alex noren, golfer on the move

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Last day in Stockholm...
2009-09-17 Another tough day in the gym. Stamina in the morning and I was so much more motivated today. When that lactic acid comes I just close my eyes and think of something sweet that I want to happen and it feels a lot easier. The strength training was nice to in the afternoon with some new exercises. Training a lot helps me to eat, sleep and recover better since I know that it will make the sessions easier. Nothing worse to come to a session tired,hungry or dehydrated and not be able to do your best.

Saw some of the re-cap from the US Open tennis final and Federer looked so strong in the beginning but couldn´t take another title this time. Del Potro was too strong! Federer though, has to be almost super human. He doesn´t look as strong as he really is and he moves like a cat and doesn´t even sweat after a match. I have heard how much Robin Söderling trains and I would love to see Federer work out. Speaking of work outs, does anybody have any video of Alexander Karelin (the wrestler) working out. I´ve seen photos of him and he looks like the strongest athlete ever.

Tomorrow starts my golf training down in Monaco. Going to combine it with gym training and my new breathing/focusing CD I got. Need to get better at focusing on the course and not get distracted or loose my confidence during the tournament. This CD will help me, I hope. It feels great to have some new stuff to work on. It´s easy for me to get caught in beating balls and just trying to find something that works for the moment. My training needs to be more structured so I can develop my game at a steady pace. Not bouncing up and down and just looking for short cuts or quick fixes.

See you later and tomorrow I´m gonna get some sweet pictures of Terre Blanche GC. It´s an awesome place up in the mountains above Cannes in France.

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12
Tired as a dog!
2009-09-16 Totally done after a hard training day yesterday at the UCSP Gym in Stockholm. The morning session was terrible! Intervals on the bike and then intervals on the rowing machine. I´m the worst at motivating myself for these exercises. I hate the feeling when the lactic acid sips into your muscles. I don´t mind pushing myself on strength exerices but stamina ones are tougher, but, I feel great after these tough sessions. It feels like I´ve done something productive and that I improved on one of my weaknesses. Going to work on the same thing tomorrow so we´ll see if my motivation is better and the results can improve.

The afternoon session was more to my liking. Bar and other free weight exercises and most of them from 6-10 repetitions. Chin-ups always gets me though...feel like I want to puke after. After the session I tried one of the best things I´ve ever tried! A breathing/focusing exercise which I´m going to start using regurarly and if it´s as good as I think, I will tell you about it later!

Today was golfing day at Bro Hof Slott GC and the course was in great shape! Thought I wasn´t going to be able to swing today beacause I´m so sore from yesterday. But, it sometimes it feels like I get rid of my overswing when I´m sore, can´t wind up as much...I know some guys on tour try to get as sore as possible for the tournament days so they can feel their bodies better and maybe swing a little shorter and more controlled. Other players might feel the opposite. I like feeling like I´ve done something the day before when I play but not sore so I can´t wind up fully.

See you later and enjoy the training:)

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16
Training...
2009-09-14 It´s been a great training day today! Love coming out to Haninge GK and see the boys and practice with them...Patrik "Myggan" Nilsson, my former golf coach, is now the head of the athletic side of the club and has a lot to do with the development of the golf course. He has, together with all the other guys involved, done a great job with the course and it´s in the best shape I´ve ever seen it! It´s nice to see improvement like that, especially when you care about the place. Me and my friend Kristoffer "Kotte" Broberg always have a chipping contest, "the 21 game". Usually we have a serious game and it´s very important and the looser feels awful and wants to get revenge right away just to be able to sleep well at night. Today, we had too much to talk about to even count the score. Weird but fun!!! Everybody seems to have a nick-name at our course...I guess it´s like that south of the city:)

This is Kotte who loves chipping!

Sometimes we practice chipping from the green to get a more crisp hit on the ball and to pick it clean because taking a divot in the green is not very apprecitated:) After practicing of the green, it seems really easy chipping from the fringe.

This is the hut I spent most of my time at Haninge GK the last few years. I love it in there, with the mirrors and the sweet mat to hit from. Now, they have a nice grass tee box outside but I still go in there to hit balls. It´s great when it´s raining outside too!

After lunch it was time to hit the gym...Pierre Johansson is down in Austria with the other golfers he trains. I went to the UCSP gym in the city to do some stuff. Robin Söderling´s coach Ali Ghelem runs the place and they got all the best stuff in there. Have done a lot of testing in there before and they specialize in golf and tennis...so it works out great!

Since I started working out harder my swing feels so much better so I´m just gonna keep doing it! Nothing is better then feeling good over the ball! I want that feeling more often.

See you later!!!

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1
Short game, short game, short game:)
2009-09-12 Under par is always good! 2 under par today and moving up, slowly though. Played with the short game genius Rodney Pampling again, and he was as good today. I have so much motivation to practice short game now, never had that before. Always loved the range and judged my game after how good I was hitting it. From now on, focus is going to be on short game and also the gym I think. The stronger and the more flexible I can get the better my swing will be and then it´s just to groove on that short game.

Peter Hansson is leading going into tomorrow and Henrik Stenson is 2 behind. Good Swedish thing going!!!

Going to Sweden tomorrow night, haven´t been there in a while. Nice to see the family and the buddies before I go home to Monaco to work on that short game...can´t wait. Playing on a really good golf course outside Monaco, Terre Blanche GC, which has two awesome golf courses and excellent practice areas and a gym as well. So, it´s the perfect place to get better. I can hang out there all day! Robert Karlsson, Soren Hansen and a few French players are playing there as well so maybe we can get some good matches as well. In the end, there is nothing better for your game than competition, I believe.

But, first Stockholm for a few days to work out at the UCSP (Under Construction Sport Performance) gym in the middle of Stockholm and some golf training at Haninge GK and Bro Hof Slott Golf Club.

This is what I call improvement...going from this...

To this...

See you later and short game, short game, short game:)

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1
Energy...
2009-09-11 Still amazed of how fast some cars are...couldn´t stop thinking about that SLR Roadster from yesterday! Love speed! But to handle speed is another question...that DTM driver Bruno really knew what he was doing!

Played about the same today as yesterday, level par, and didn´t move anywhere, not up nor down, on the leaderboard. I need to hit it closer to get some good chances for birdies. Maybe tomorrow! The only thing I know for sure doesn´t work on the course is to force good results. They come when you deserve them I think. My coach Pete Cowen always says that you get 30% of what you put into it. And a lot of the time you get 0% but after a while you will get a lot and it all equals out to 30%. Do not know if he´s right but maybe it´s close to the truth...

No practice after the round since I´m still tired from last week and my strategy this afternoon has been to try to get some energy for the weekend. Pierre says I should bike 20 minutes on very low intensity to "wash out" the waste products in the body that makes you tired. SSP Chowrasia´s caddie, who also is a physio instructor, recommended me to take a seriously cold shower to get back in the game. Tried both and it feels better actually. A good night sleep now to really get energized will get me ready in the head tomorrow. Hopefully my game is up for it as well...we´ll see.

Played with Rodney Pampling today. He is a great player and won pretty much all over the world. He didn´t have his best day from tee to green but he has an amazing short game. His chipping, bunker play, pitching and putting looks so easy! The ball comes out soft and with not much spin and just releases up to the pin, and it always looks like it has a chance to go in. Very controlled and very impressive.

My parents came down for the weekend. Every time they have come to a tournament this year I have missed the cut...last year they were good luck but not this year. But, since this tournament doesn´t have a cut they were welcomed:) We did a little sight-seeing in Cologne and saw the Dome...huge church. Can´t believe thay built this so long ago without cranes to help them out...

Time for some youtube searching...any good tips???

See you tomorrow!!!

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