When a pro arrives at the course to begin their warmup, it’s easy to forget that some of their hardest work has ben done already.
Allow reigning U.S. Open champ Jon Rahm to provide an example.
Over the weekend, the Titleist Performance Institute, which was co-founded by GOLF Top 100 Teacher Dave Phillips (who doubles as Jon Rahm’s swing coach), shared this video of the World No. 2 working hard in the gym. The activation routine you see below happened on Wednesday before his pro-am, but TPI confirms he’ll often do some variation of this before each round.
“Before the round, it’s important to activate those muscles so they’re switched on, and can perform at their maximum capability for the day,” Phillips says.
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You can watch the entire video below, but there’s a few interesting tidbits that stand out to me:
First, notice how much movement each exercise contains — so much that Rahm is working up a sweat doing it. That’s because what we’re seeing Rahm doing is a dynamic warmup. Rather than stretching in place, dynamic warmups require getting your heart pumping at a higher rate, and they’re far-and-away the kind of pre-round exercises teachers recommend the most.
Second, take note of how many different rotation exercises Rahm is doing. Twisting and turning and bending; that’s what a golf swing is, in its essential parts, and any warmup worth its salt has lots of those.
Finally, Rahm isn’t using especially heavy weights with any of these exercises. That’s because the focus is on mobility. Getting your muscles “activated” before your round. Warmed up in a way where they’re switched on, and can move in multiple different directions.
You can watch the full video right here: