The Stack System - A Conversation on Gaining Swing Speed

[DeadMan]

 

  On 9/26/2023 at 1:18 PM, StuM said:

In the spring I am planning to start new lessons via "Evolver" and expect changes to my swing to be suggested.  I'm also thinking about The Stack to increase my swing speed.  My question is, should I hold off on The Stack until I get any changes suggested by Evolver to be engrained into my swing before I start the speed training or can I do both at the same time?

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You can definitely do both. I'm guessing you'll start out with set up stuff as you get into lessons which will be easy and beneficial to incorporate during stack session. Also, there are breaks during the sessions. I use those breaks to do slow rehearsal swings or work on swing feels. 

There's also a good rhythm to the stack sessions - you end up doing one either every other day or every 3 days. You can use the other days for more intense swing work if you want to.

I haven't watched this, but I found this video on the Stack site that talks about speed training and swing mechanics. Might be worth a watch: https://www.thestacksystem.com/pages/stack-training-and-swing-mechanics

 

Edited September 26, 2023 by DeadMan

[SEMI_Duffer]

  On 9/26/2023 at 1:18 PM, StuM said:

My question is, should I hold off on The Stack until I get any changes suggested by Evolver to be engrained into my swing before I start the speed training or can I do both at the same time?

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I would.  I did.  I plan to eventually embark on swing speed training, but, other than occasionally hitting a few balls in the back yard, just to see what would happen, I haven't even been to a range, much less played, much less considered swing speed training.

My thinking was doing any of those things would only slow the process of me grooving a new swing.  (Given how long I've been at it that seems hardly possible, but, that's been my thinking, nonetheless.)

  On 9/26/2023 at 1:18 PM, StuM said:

I want more speed for more distance but I figure a better swing should be top priority.

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I agree, but, who am I to say? 

[iacas]

  On 9/26/2023 at 1:18 PM, StuM said:

Thoughts?

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Do them both.

 

 

[StuM]

  On 9/26/2023 at 2:07 PM, DeadMan said:

I haven't watched this, but I found this video on the Stack site that talks about speed training and swing mechanics. Might be worth a watch: https://www.thestacksystem.com/pages/stack-training-and-swing-mechanics

 

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That video was the perfect answer to my question.  I guess I'll be getting The Stack.  Now I just need to drop enough "Hints" to my wife for my Christmas Present, but there is that TST Discount Code so maybe it is just my present to myself.

[iacas]

  On 9/26/2023 at 2:47 PM, StuM said:

That video was the perfect answer to my question.  I guess I'll be getting The Stack.  Now I just need to drop enough "Hints" to my wife for my Christmas Present, but there is that TST Discount Code so maybe it is just my present to myself.

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Yeah. Not to get off topic, but we just buy stuff for ourselves. Outside of some situations (I bought her a personalized Yeti as she was wrecking our plastic Tervis bottles with her coffee), that's all we do.

[StuM]

  On 9/26/2023 at 3:37 PM, iacas said:

Yeah. Not to get off topic, but we just buy stuff for ourselves. Outside of some situations (I bought her a personalized Yeti as she was wrecking our plastic Tervis bottles with her coffee), that's all we do.

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We "Play a game".  When we want something throughout the year it is "That will be my Birthday Present" or our "Anniversary Present", etc.  Truth be told we have both covered our special days well into our 90s at this point.  

To keep "On Topic", I'll get the bundle with the PRGR Monitor.  The Mevo+ would be nice, but it would be overkill for my needs.

[iacas]

I just mostly use the PRGR. I should try it out with the Mevo+ at some point again… 🙂 

[SEMI_Duffer]

  On 9/26/2023 at 3:37 PM, iacas said:

Yeah. Not to get off topic, but we just buy stuff for ourselves.

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That's mostly what my wife and I do now.

We found ourselves struggling to come up with something, anything, to get each other for Christmases and birthdays.  Finally decided neither of us needs any more "stuff," merely for the sake of coming up with something to gift one another, so we don't do that anymore.

E.g.: I've a couple upgrades to my home gym I want.  When the Black Friday sales roll around I'll pick one, tell her "I'm gonna get this for myself for Christmas" and that'll be that.

It may even be set aside until Christmas Day   (Though they're both fairly large, so maybe not.)

Edited September 26, 2023 by SEMI_Duffer

[klineka]

  On 9/26/2023 at 3:46 PM, StuM said:

To keep "On Topic", I'll get the bundle with the PRGR Monitor.  The Mevo+ would be nice, but it would be overkill for my needs.

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  On 9/26/2023 at 3:53 PM, iacas said:

I just mostly use the PRGR. I should try it out with the Mevo+ at some point again… 🙂 

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FWIW I use the Mevo+ and don't have any issues. It reads like 95%+ of the swings, only misses one every couple of sessions . 

I agree that it's overkill if your only use is for The Stack but I use mine for my garage hitting bay and I take it to the range pretty regularly as well.

[DeadMan]

I'm through the foundations program, and reporting back with some really good success. I increased all my speeds significantly. Better yet, I'm seeing results on the course. I used to hit 300 yards maybe once a round, but now I'm hitting it multiple times a round. And I'm finding that I can really crank it out there when I want/need to. I've had a couple of drive crack 320 when I've done that. I haven't measured my swing speed hitting driver in about a month, but a month ago, I had gained about 5 mph on average with driver compared to before. I was in the 100 range before, now in the 105, and I can crank it closer to 110. I never saw this type of result with the Super Speed sticks.

I do really like the app and how it sets it up. It's much better to follow than Super Speed, and all the data is great.

My second program is the lead arm enhancer. I've done one work out, and it was a little weird. The workout was "tempo" swings, which are 80% swings, focused on timing/mechanics. It's a big difference going from the foundations program where you go all out to going back to 80%. It doesn't feel as intense, either. I'm sure that will change as I get further into the program, but it didn't feel the same as in the past.

Anyway, I'm really happy with this, and I'm excited to see where else this goes.

Here's a picture of my progress in the app:

Edited October 2, 2023 by DeadMan

[Darkfrog]

  On 10/2/2023 at 5:57 PM, DeadMan said:

I do really like the app and how it sets it up. It's much better to follow than Super Speed, and all the data is great.

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The app is well done. I like The Stack way better than the Superspeed program so far. I am just about to start Phase 4 of the Foundation program. The app makes it easy to track progress, and it seamlessly connects to Mevo+. I feel like the sessions are more focused and take take less time to complete compared to Superspeed but it's been awhile since I did Superspeed so I might be misremembering that part. 

[ChetlovesMer]

  On 10/4/2023 at 12:12 AM, Darkfrog said:

The app is well done. I like The Stack way better than the Superspeed program so far. I am just about to start Phase 4 of the Foundation program. The app makes it easy to track progress, and it seamlessly connects to Mevo+. I feel like the sessions are more focused and take take less time to complete compared to Superspeed but it's been awhile since I did Superspeed so I might be misremembering that part. 

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If they ever come out with an Android ap I will be on this like white on rice. 

If anyone out there hears news that an Android ap is coming, please let me know. I'd be excited to try this. 

[klineka]

  On 10/4/2023 at 1:02 AM, ChetlovesMer said:

If they ever come out with an Android ap I will be on this like white on rice. 

If anyone out there hears news that an Android ap is coming, please let me know. I'd be excited to try this. 

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You can get a refurbished iPad for a couple hundred bucks. Maybe even less if you looked on like FB Marketplace.

I've been waiting on an Android app for well over a year and last winter just bit the bullet and snagged a cheap iPad. I use mine for the Mevo+ simulator software too and take it to the range with me as I find it easier to see the numbers on a bigger screen

[ChetlovesMer]

  On 10/4/2023 at 1:11 AM, klineka said:

You can get a refurbished iPad for a couple hundred bucks. Maybe even less if you looked on like FB Marketplace.

I've been waiting on an Android app for well over a year and last winter just bit the bullet and snagged a cheap iPad. I use mine for the Mevo+ simulator software too and take it to the range with me as I find it easier to see the numbers on a bigger screen

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Yeah, I know. 

And I may end up doing that. ... But ... Apple products are so icky. 

[Darkfrog]

Did my progress check after completing the Foundation program yesterday. I like the gains I am seeing compared to baseline. During the program I hit a maximum of 106mph (eSpeed 116mph) with the 195g stack, but more often than not I was in the 102-104mph range. One thing I noticed during Foundation is that there seemed to be high variance in test speeds. For example with the 195g weight, I might hit 105mph on one swing, and then 98mph on the next. I wonder if as I train to swing faster, the variance will decrease.

Driver speed measured at 113mph during the progress check, I think this is was the absolute max I could get after Superspeed, so nice to see that I am at this point after the first Stack program.

No idea why the single arm swings are faster. I guess these are much lighter (no added weight). I wonder if this is why the app recommends Neural Drive program as the next step. I plan to start that over the weekend.

[klineka]

Just completed my progress check for my second run of the Full Speed Spectrum and driver speed was the exact same as the baseline, 115mph. Not too disappointed that the speed didn't increase, I took quite a bit longer than recommended to finish the program, had multiple times of 5+ day gaps between sessions so did the "return to form" workouts multiple times in there too. Now with winter coming I should have less going on and be able to stick to the programming better.

I hit 111mph for my highest set speed with 195g multiple different workouts throughout the program which gave me an eSpeed of 120mph which I feel is about right, lately I've been sitting in the 117-120mph range on the course. 

I will say the Full Speed Spectrum got a bit boring and repetitive the second half of the program, so I am going to run the Neural Drive program next and see how I like that one.

Still would really like to get the cruising speed to 120mph at the minimum which I think is completely possible if I do a better job of staying on schedule with the program.

[ChiTown]

  On 10/21/2023 at 12:05 AM, klineka said:

I will say the Full Speed Spectrum got a bit boring and repetitive the second half of the program, so I am going to run the Neural Drive program next and see how I like that one.

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@klineka Appreciate the honesty. How long are the sessions?  What makes them boring?

I thought the system has a set program in terms of what to do each session. Is Neural your next “step” or does the system allow you to mix things up a bit?

Thanks in advance 

[klineka]

  On 10/21/2023 at 2:55 PM, ChiTown said:

@klineka Appreciate the honesty. How long are the sessions?  What makes them boring?

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Each session is about 20-25 minutes or so. The "boring" part was that for the second half of the program it was pretty much the same exact sequence every workout for the last ~15 sessions of this cycle just slightly different weights each workout. I'm sure there's a reason for it and it's by design, it just got repetitive. Heavy set to start, lighter set, lighter step set with same weight as previous set, heavy set with same weight as first set, final set with 195g. 

  On 10/21/2023 at 2:55 PM, ChiTown said:

I thought the system has a set program in terms of what to do each session. Is Neural your next “step” or does the system allow you to mix things up a bit?

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The system has a set program of workouts you follow when you are in a specific program like the Foundation or the Full Speed Spectrum, and then after each cycle it recommends what program you start next. It recommended Full Speed Spectrum for me again as the #1 option, with Neural Drive as the #2 option.

Basically it looks at all your speeds across the different weights and then ranks all of their available programs by which one it thinks you will benefit the most from.

I'm choosing Neural Drive because I've done the Full Speed Spectrum twice in a row now and want to mix it up and try something different.