Every Golfer Can Learn From Justin Rose's Approach To Fitness

Justin Rose is a major champion, an Olympic Gold Medalist and a stalwart in international team competition.  This you probably know.  What you might not know is that he’s an absolute beast in the gym.  While Dustin and Rory and Jason probably get more attention for their workouts, Justin is another pro that golfers should model their approach to physical preparation after.

 

Justin works with Justin Buckthorp, a London-based strength coach who trains numerous pro golfers, including Chris Wood and Charley Hull.  Smart trainers usually create smart (and strong) clients.  The Justin's are no exception.  Justin Rose recently sat down with Dr. Ara Suppiah on Golf Channel's Morning Drive to discuss the importance of fitness, nutrition and warm-up.

 

Justin has battled back pain since his days as an elite amatuer.  In his appearance on Morning Drive, he talked to Dr. Ara about how he's addressed his back issues through strength training.

 

 

To be clear, pain is not normal or accepatable in golf.  If you're in pain, get assessed/treated/stronger ASAP.  However, like any sport, injuries happen in golf and the gym is sometimes unfairly presented as the cause of pain or injury in professional golfers.  This couldn't be further from the truth.  The VAST majority of golfers aren't in pain more BECAUSE of the gym.  

 

Dr. Rose discussed this in a recent response to criticism of Rory’s workout regimen.  When we assessed Rory at TPI as a teenager, we saw elite hip speed (720°/second), an enormous separation of upper body and lower body (66°), but underdeveloped strength.  Above-average mobility and below-average strength is a common combination in younger golfers, but it's also a dangerous combination.  The work Rory and Justin are doing in the gym is aimed at improving these deficiencies.  

 

 

This process of first evaluating golfers and then developing a plan to improve is core to the TPI philosophy.  Whether the TPI screen we teach in Level 1 or the Power Screen we teach in the advanced Power seminars, our aim is to help professionals understand individual athletes better before developing their program.  

 

In another segment for Morning Drive, Justin demonstrated a few exercises from his warm-up.  We've tried to hammer home the importance of doing some sort of body-prep before playing a round (if you've missed this, start here).  For most amatuers, a 10 minute pre-round body prep offers the most efficient path to improvement. 

 

"How many times do we see amateur golfers only starting to play well on the back nine because they've just started loosening up," says Justin.  "Maybe we can cheat that with just 5 - 10 minutes before you go to the range."

 

"Everything I do pre-round is based on a pyramid of mobility, stability, strength and power.  You can't have strength and power without the underlying blocks."

- Justin Rose

 

That quote may as well have been ripped from a TPI seminar.  So good.  

 

Here's Justin demonstrating a few of his favorite warm-up exercises.  Listen to how he describes them.  You can learn as much about an athlete’s training IQ from hearing them describe exercises as you can from watching them perform exercises.

 

You can find a bunch of variations of the planks that Justin demonstrated on our site.

 

 

 

The appearance was split into several more segments, including a core workout and Justin's favorite mobility routine.  They are all great.  

 

Shoutout to Morning Drive, Justin Rose and Dr. Ara for the great piece.  Huge credit to smart professionals like Justin Buckthorp for taking the time to educate his client on the "why" behind their work.