Brad Gibala

Archives for October 2017

Slazenger Golf Balls Review

- Updated

Slazenger golf balls are the next to be entered into my best golf ball challenge. Just like with all of my golf ball reviews I will play one 18 hole round at Rackham Golf Course near my house and report my findings after each round.

Every time I play a Slazenger golf ball I will update it here.

Slazenger Raw Distance Golf Ball Review

Slazenger Raw Distance Golf Ball Review10-13-17  –  60 Degrees  –  Cloudy  –  Damp

Rackham Golf Course  –  White Tees

Why on Earth am I playing a 10 year old golf ball? It’s because my dad never played them. There was dust on the box when I picked them up so it leads me to believe they had been sitting for awhile.

I remember seeing them sitting on the shelf in his workroom because the box has a shiny hologram cover. I do not know when these Raw Distance were made as there is no manufacturing date on them. Lets say they were made in the mid to late 2000s.

Slazenger Raw Distance Dozen Golf Balls
You can see the dust on the box.

Doing some searching I could not even find a similar packaging. Slazenger switched to a longer rectangular packaging instead of the typical square packaging. Mine were in the square packaging.

On the packaging it says the Raw Distance is a “Classic Formula, Proven Performance – 428dr Dimple pattern for high, stable launch characteristics. Enhanced core formula for extra distance. Durable cut resistant monomer cover.”

I like how it says “the original raw distance.” There are other raw distance golf balls? Let’s see how raw it is.

Off The Tee – With it being a cool damp day it limited the Raw Distance from going as far as other golf balls I tested. But that doesn’t mean it didn’t go far. The Raw Distance seemed to have a second gear in mid-flight.

With it being a two piece ball it meant the Raw Distance was not going to spin that much. And my testing would agree. Hit three draws off the tee and a number of straight shots. Did not slice once.

The Raw Distance did seem to reach the outer limits of my driving distance. On a warm dry day it might be the longest golf ball I’ve ever hit.

Fairway Woods & Hybrids – Noticeably longer with fairway woods. My impression would be 10 to 15 yards longer than other golf balls with these clubs. Spin was low and distance was long.

Almost landed my second shot on the Par 5 14th green from 250 yards away. It landed just right of the green in the air and settled in the rough pin high. When I have hit the green with Nike golf balls it was the same 250 yard shot but the balls landed at 235 and bounced up there.

Irons – With the extra distance I was getting off the tee it meant shorter iron shots into the green. Out of my 9 greens in regulation eight of those were with irons.

Distance was longer with irons too. Had to club down a couple of times because the Raw Distance was carrying further than other golf balls I’ve tested.

Spin was average. When I hit the green it took a hop or two and stopped. No crazy backspin or sidespin and that’s ok.

Slazenger Raw Distance Backspin
Pitching Wedge. 8 iron. 8 iron.

Wedges – Almost chipped in for birdie from 30 feet away on the Par 3 13th. Outside of one bunker shot I only had one tricky chip shot. What I liked about the Raw Distance and the wedges was I knew it was not going to check up.

All I had to do was get the ball half way to the hole and let it roll. Got up and down for par on three separate occasions.

Putting – And this is where the Raw Distance had problems. Three putted four times and four putted once. I could not get a feel for it on the green. The Raw Distance does not have a soft feeling leaving the putter face. It’s very clunky.

In its defense, the greens were wet from an early morning rain. For the first 8 holes the golf ball would pick up water from the green and create the “mohawk” effect. This is the only time the greens have been like this during all of my tests.

It made putting a lot more difficult. When you think its going to be slow it was fast. And vice versa. It’s too bad because if I could cut the three putts in half and get rid of the four putt I break eighty.

Durability – The Raw Distance is a tank. There was one little scuff mark but besides that it was ok. You could get more rounds from it for sure.

Slazenger Raw Distance Durability
After one 18 hole round.

Score – 83

GIR – 9

Putts – 39

Fairways – 4

Penalty Strokes – 0

Slazenger Raw Distance Score

I used to really like playing Slazenger golf balls when I was a kid. I felt lucky when I found one on the golf course or in the Clinton River behind my parents house. There was something cool about Slazengers.

I did get a kick out of the block font and simplicity of the Raw Distance. It’s amazing how far the Raw Distance went even though the weather was not ideal for distance. The guy I was golfing with called it the “Raw Dog” and I’d say “They don’t make them like they used to.”

I’d be interested in trying a newer generation Raw Distance to see if it still gets the distance as the 10+ year old one I played but has a better feel on the green. All things considered I thought the Raw Distance was a great golf ball.

What Is The Best Workout?

- Updated

What Is The Best WorkoutThere are a lot of workout plans out there. And I mean a lot.

You cannot go a day without seeing a new workout plan pop up in an ad on your favorite websites. They are everywhere. And that’s ok.

I have done a number of workout plans over the years and have seen positive results from them. From time to time I get asked what is the best workout plan. Instead of me having to explain every nuance of each workout I decided to put together comparison charts and rankings for what I feel is the best workout.

I will only write about workout plans I have completed or mostly completed. There are going to be a couple of workouts that I did not complete because they were boring, not good, over-hyped, or did not meet expectations. And I feel you should know that.

Most of the workouts I have completed were done at home because that’s where I workout. You can probably do most of these workouts at the gym if you were to take workout sheets with you.

I bought all of the workouts below with my own money. Many were in DVD format.

As I complete more workout programs I will update them here.

Best All Around Workout

Rank Name Why? Review
1. P90X From head to toe it is the most complete workout program. During your 90 days of P90X you will do the hardest yet most well-known (push ups/pull ups) exercises to the max. Add in Plyometrics and Yoga to round out it out. There is a reason why P90X is the #1 selling workout of all time. It works. What I liked most about P90X was it challenged me to do more reps each time I worked out. P90X Review
2. Body Beast Every single muscle in your body will get tested during your 90 days of Body Beast. The moves are not complex but there are a lot of them. And the goal is to lift as much as you can. What I liked most was the challenge to lift more and more. Body Beast Review
3. Insanity I think of Insanity as more of a game than a workout. It’s like playing a sport (soccer, basketball, hockey, tennis, racquetball, etc.) for an hour every night without ever taking a break. Insanity is hard and it took me some time to build up the cardio needed to keep up with Shaun T. Insanity Review
4. Power 90 Before P90X there was Power 90. It’s not as tough as P90X but it is a complete 90 day workout plan. What I enjoyed most about Power 90 was the workouts were under 45 minutes and did enough to get you in workout mode. Power 90 Review
5. Primal Blueprint What can you say about a workout designed to be done for life? Two to three times a week you do 2 sets of 50 push ups, 12 pull ups, 75 squats, and hold a plank for 2 minutes. Get it all done in under 20 minutes and you are in shape. Do everything else like cardio, yoga, and playing on your own time. Simplicity is genius. Primal Blueprint Review
6. Insanity Asylum Vol. 1 This is my favorite workout of all time. Insanity Asylum Vol. 1 will challenge you like no other workout. Its like mixing Insanity and Body Beast in a 30 day workout. The reason why its lower on the list is because you must be in good shape before starting. Otherwise you will struggle and it will be miserable. Insanity Asylum Vol. 1 Review
7. P90X One on One Vol. 1 Originally called Tony Horton One On One Vol. 1. These workouts are hidden gems. It’s a bit odd in that the workouts are in Tony Horton’s house and he talks a little more but the exercises are to the point. It’s not designed as a 90 day plan but more of a hybrid. I made a plan with the workouts as if it was P90X. The 30/15 Routine might be the hardest Tony Horton upper body workout ever. P90X One on One Vol. 1 Review
8. Insanity Max:30 I think of Insanity Max:30 as Insanity light. The main difference between the two is this one is designed to allow you to keep track of when you maxed out. I made it through 30 of the 60 days and only had to stop because of a sports injury. There is just enough variety and beginners can start with this one too. Insanity Max:30 Review
9. Herschel Walker Workout A workout program for life that Herschel Walker created when he was a kid. Do hundreds if not thousands of push ups, pull ups, sit-ups, and squats every day for the rest of your life. Its really that simple. Its best to start out with a 30 day Herschel Walker  Workout Challenge like I did. Herschel Walker Workout Review
10. ChaLean Extreme  I never did an entire 90 day round but have done all the workouts at least twice with Andrea. ChaLean Extreme is not a tough workout but it does work everything out. Chalene Johnson sets a slower pace than other workouts but you can always lift more to make it harder. ChaLean Extreme Review
11. Les Mills Pump I do not hate nor do I like Les Mills Pump. The use of the bar with various weights is genius. Those workouts are excellent. I am not a fan of the non bar workouts. I’m also not a fan of trying to feel like being in group setting at home. I made it through 40 days before getting bored. Les Mills Pump would be a great AT THE GYM. Les Mills Pump Review
12. Focus T25 I really want to like T25 but became very bored of the 25 minute workouts. If I did not do Insanity before T25 than I might have liked it. First two months of T25 were not very challenging and I found myself asking “why not just do one 45 minute Insanity workout?” Focus T25 Review
13. P90X2 I found P90X2 to be really hard and really easy. The follow up to P90X is designed for specificity and to make you an elite athlete. I nor millions of other people are. Some moves were so tough (around the world pull ups) and others so easy (entire first month). Its been six years since I finished the 90 days of P90X2 and it still confuses me. P90X2 Review
14. P90X3 When Beachbody made the decision to design P90X3 workouts all 30 minutes long they lost me. I did not find any of the workouts to be all that great. Some were ok but the workouts were almost over when I was just getting warmed up. I made it to day 45 of P90X3 before getting bored. If I had not done many rounds of P90X before P90X3 than I might have liked it. I occasionally do P90X3 Yoga. P90X3 Review
15. Insanity Asylum Vol. 2 I did not realize at the time but the “Agility Tutorial” was what doomed Vol. 2 for me. Vol. 1 did not have a tutorial workout. You had to learn the steps in this workout to be able to do the other workouts. I found myself spending more time looking up trying to follow along with Shaun T than working out. I became frustrated and stopped after two weeks of this 30 day workout. For this reason alone I feel Vol. 2 to be more complicated than it needed to be. Insanity Asylum Vol. 2 Review
16. P90X Plus There are five workouts and most of them are total body workouts. P90X Plus is more of a maintenance plan than a workout plan. I did P90X+ for 30 days after my last round of P90X and I found it to be lackluster. I did like the “Upper Plus” workout though. P90X Plus Review
17. Les Mills Combat Beachbody was trying to capture the MMA niche with Les Mills Combat and I gave in to this 60 day workout. Twenty days later I quit. It was too “this is awesome” for me. It never felt like working out. One day a week of MMA workouts is about right for me. Not six days a week. Les Mills Combat Review
18. Turbo Fire If I was in a group class with Chalene doing Turbo Fire I would probably love it. Since I am not, I do not. I tried it with Andrea for two weeks and stopped. I do not like choreography type workouts. Turbo Fire Review
19. Brazil Butt Lift I did ten days of Brazil Butt Lift on the hope it would work my legs just as much as its supposed to work the butt. It did not. I was not impressed. Brazil Butt Lift Review

Best Workout To Build Muscle

To make this list the workout plan has to have more workouts that leave your body shaking when your done and sore for days after.

Rank Name Why?
1. Body Beast  Every workout is designed to build muscle. Not feeling the pump? Lift more weight. It’s impossible to not build muscle with Body Beast.
2. P90X  Push ups, pull ups, push ups, and more pull ups. The Monday, Wednesday, and Friday workouts will challenge your muscles for all 90 days. Follow the P90X schedule correctly and you will build muscle all over.
3. Insanity  Squat, push up, squat, and more push ups. Insanity is a cardio workout but with all of the body weight resistance workouts you will build muscle.
4. Insanity Asylum Vol. 1  Every workout is designed to build muscle. Push ups and squats in an agility ladder will build muscle everywhere. Add in the jump rope to build leg muscles too.
5. Primal Blueprint The simplicity of doing push ups, pull ups, squats, and planks will build those important “human muscles.” Do these for the rest of your life and see how much muscle you gain.
6. Herschel Walker Workout Very similar to the Primal Blueprint in that you do push ups, pull ups, and squats. The difference is you do hundreds if not thousands of them a day. Its impossible to not build muscle if you workout like Herschel.

Best Cardio Workout

To make the list the workout plan has to have enough workouts that get my heart rate elevated, get sweat flying everywhere, and basically make me feel like I just detoxed.

Rank Name Why?
1. Insanity Sweat will be flying everywhere. Little to no breaks for 45 minutes. Your heart will be pumping blood like crazy trying to keep up with Shaun T. The amount of sweat that comes out of my body doing Insanity is gross.
2.  Insanity Asylum Vol. 1 Jumping rope in almost every workout. Moving push ups through an agility ladder. I sweat like no other when I do just about every Asylum workout.
3. Insanity Max:30  The goal of Insanity Max:30 is to do the moves for as long as you can. In doing so it gets my heart pumping and sweat flying. Cardio strength is the goal of Insanity Max:30.
4.  Focus T25  T25 just barely makes the list because you are moving the entire 25 minutes. The moves get harder and the pace moves faster going into month two.

Best Workout Apps

Rank Name Why? Cost
1. Beachbody On Demand Hundreds of the most popular workouts of all time. Meal plans. Workout sheets. Hybrid workout plans. Whats not to like. $99 year

I was debating about making a comparison table for best fat loss workout and best workout routines for men and women but those are mis-leading. You will lose fat doing any workout if you follow the plan and even more fat if you follow its meal plan.

All of the workouts listed are good for men and women. There is no better workout for men or women. There are only workouts that hit your goals and get the results you want. And usually what matters is where your fitness is.

You probably have figured out by now that many of the workouts listed are Beachbody workouts. I didn’t start doing workout programs until P90X came along and would do the next one Beachbody released. My involvement in the Beachbody Coach program kept me in tuned to new releases but it does not mean I like every Beachbody program.