Jon Rahm, currently ranked among the world's top golfers, exemplifies how optimizing the body-swing connection can lead to peak performance. His journey is a testament to the power of personalized fitness, nutrition, and a dedicated team of professionals. Rahm's story provides valuable insights for golfers of all levels seeking to improve their game and overall well-being.
Overcoming Physical Limitations
Rahm's path to golfing stardom wasn't without its challenges. He was born with a club foot, a condition requiring corrective surgery. This resulted in limited mobility and stability in his right ankle, which, coupled with restricted right hip internal rotation, impacted his backswing. Rather than viewing this as a permanent setback, Rahm collaborated with a team of golf, fitness, and health experts to adapt his swing and strengthen other aspects of his body, maximizing his efficiency on the course.
His patented short backswing, achieved with a bowed wrist and significant upper and lower body strength, demonstrates his ability to generate substantial power despite his physical limitations. This adaptation highlights the importance of understanding individual biomechanics and tailoring a swing to suit one's unique capabilities.
A Comprehensive Fitness Regimen
Jon Rahm's fitness regimen focuses on mobility, stability, motor control, and sequencing. He collaborates with his team from the Titleist Performance Institute, including trainer Spencer Tatum, swing coach David Phillips, and health professional Greg Rose. This collaborative communication is vital, allowing each member to adjust their work based on feedback from others in their respective fields.
Rahm's workouts are structured around compound movements and asymmetries, with a specific emphasis on balance and stability, crucial elements in the golf swing. Throughout his tournaments, he relies on mobility routines and physio-based massage to maintain peak performance. He attributes his in-season success to his offseason programming and the time invested in preparation.
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Explosiveness and Ground Force
An important part of Rahm’s training routine is swinging weighted clubs, which has been proven to improve clubhead speed. Rahm hits an impressive 144 mph with this weighted club, which means his clubhead speed with a regular golf club in his hand is even higher. By aggressively jumping out of the half-squat position, he is using the ground to explode up. This strengthens his quads and hamstrings, but also translates to the way he uses the ground to power through the golf ball.
Pre-Round Activation
Jon Rahm's pre-round routine resembles a full workout for many individuals. Through a resistive and dynamic warm-up, he activates and primes his muscles for optimal performance. His routine includes low-rep, high-intensity exercises such as medicine ball tosses, kettlebell swings, banded rotations, reactive hip twists, and Turkish getups. This approach aligns with research indicating that resistive warm-ups can lead to longer distances played compared to isolated or dynamic warm-ups.
Nutritional Strategies for Sustained Energy
Rahm understands the importance of nutrition for maintaining energy and focus throughout long rounds. He has worked with nutritional experts to create a plan for proper eating and hydrating before, during, and after his rounds. He snacks constantly during his rounds on trail mix, dried fruit (pineapple, mango, raisins), and pistachios or almonds to maintain consistent energy levels without feeling lethargic. He also eats a full peanut butter sandwich at the 9-hole turn (the halfway mark).
The Importance of Recovery
The physical demands of professional golf require a focus on recovery strategies. PGA Tour pros use recovery tools to bounce back from majors and long flights. Compression therapy, percussive therapy, hydration and nutrition, and hitting the gym are all important.
Compression Therapy
Compression boots, such as Normatec 3 leggings, are a favorite tool among players for flushing the legs after long rounds or workouts. The Normatec device alternately inflates and deflates the boots, squeezing fluid back into the system, which goes back to the heart through the kidneys, and you get it out, removing things like lactic acid and other metabolic waste.
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Percussive Therapy
Percussive therapy devices, often called therapy guns, deliver rapid, targeted pulses to areas of the body that feel tight or sore. The rapid percussion helps increase blood flow to specific muscles, reduces stiffness, and aids in recovery by loosening up tissue that can become rigid after repeated swings, travel, or extended practice sessions.
Hydration and Nutrition for Recovery
Flying is brutal on the body, largely because airplane cabins are low in humidity to prevent condensation and corrosion. The air pressure is lower at altitude, which, combined with drier air and increased respiration rates, causes the body to lose moisture faster than usual. Focusing on anti-inflammatory foods can help the body bounce back faster. Eating leafy greens like spinach and kale, as well as fatty fish such as salmon and tuna, berries, and nuts like almonds and walnuts, can help reduce inflammation and support your body's recovery after a long day on the course.
Active Recovery
After a long trip, Jon Rahm gets a little bit of exercise in. It doesn’t need to be crazy. It could be 30, 40 minutes of just some kind of stretching or whatever to get the blood flowing a little bit more so your body can just naturally recover and get things moving. Even a brisk 20-minute walk upon arrival can help improve circulation and ease stiffness.
The Team Approach to Optimal Performance
Rahm credits much of his success to his team from Titleist Performance Institute, including his trainer Spencer Tatum, swing coach David Phillips, and health professional Greg Rose. He notes the collaborative communication was vital in everyone adjusting their work depending on everyone’s feedback within their respective field.
Athletes don’t just “work out.” They follow meticulously designed training regimens tailored to their specific sport, position, and personal strengths and weaknesses. These regimens often include a mix of cardiovascular exercises, strength training, flexibility work, and sport-specific drills. Fueling their bodies for optimal performance is a science for athletes. They work closely with nutritionists to develop meal plans that provide the right balance of macronutrients and micronutrients. Contrary to the image of non-stop training, rest is equally crucial for athletes. They incorporate rest days into their schedules to allow their bodies to recover and adapt to the stress of training.
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The team supporting an athlete can include coaches, trainers, physical therapists, nutritionists, sports psychologists, and more. Each member plays a unique role, working collaboratively to ensure the athlete is functioning at their absolute best.
Specialized Expertise
Each team member brings specialized knowledge to the table, ensuring that every aspect of the athlete’s health is addressed.
Comprehensive Care
By working together, the team can create a comprehensive plan that considers all facets of the athlete’s well-being.
Injury Prevention
Through regular monitoring and adjustments, the team can identify and address potential issues before they escalate into injuries.
Optimal Performance
Ultimately, the goal of this team approach is to help the athlete achieve and maintain optimal performance levels, training, competition, and life.
Practical Exercises for Golfers
While overspeed training can help improve swing speed, it is not recommended for senior golfers. Before any overspeed training can take place, we have to address these issues. The good news, though, is that doing so will greatly improve every aspect of your golf game.
Here are some golf exercises for seniors:
- Thoracic Rotation with Breathing Drill: The thoracic spine is one of the key areas that delivers rotation in the golf swing.
- Lower Quarter Rotation:
- Dumbbell Scapular Retractions: C-Posture is a problem because it limits thoracic rotation and often results in the golfer losing posture during the swing.
- Single-Leg Balance and Reach: Fortunately, balance is one of the most easily and quickly improved aspects of fitness.
- Pulley Woodchop: My favourite core strengthening exercise for all golfers, not just seniors, is the Pulley Woodchop.
- Pallof Press: Data from Trackman shows that the club speed of the average male amateur golfer is 93.4mph. Core stability is different to core strength.
- Goblet Squat to Box: There are 3 types of GRFs, but the ones we need to pay the most attention to are vertical GRFs. Squats are generally a great exercise for developing the musculature of the lower body.
- Incline Push-Up: It doesn’t involve going overhead. There’s no question that overhead work is important, but many seniors lack mobility in this area.
- Pelvic Tilts: For some people, this movement will feel incredibly easy. If you struggle with this movement, practising it against a wall or the floor is a great place to start.
- Overspeed training: Unfortunately, this is one of the most common things I see senior golfers struggling with. One of my favourite golf exercises for seniors to work on the weight shift is the Loaded Follow-Through.