WARM-UP part 1

 Hi and welcome.

as a first post of my blog i want to talk about WARM-UP since it is the first part of the training.

Indeed, the warm-up is meant to be the time frame used to progressively raise the internal temperature and prepare the body for the, theoretically but not necessarily, hardest and more intense time that follow, the "work-out". 

The possible choises of warming-up exercises are basically infinity because there are so many factors and variables  (which i will share later on)  that interfer, simultaneously, in the way, intensity and duration of the warm-up; but physiology and biomechanic help us identify some lines. 

So, if you are confuse and uncertain on what to do first when you enter in the gym, this post may give you some tips in order to, on the short and long run, decrease the risk of injury, staying healty, massimize your time in the gym and, ultimately improve your fitness level and performance.

Even more if you are little bit into social media, you can honestly get a bit dizy. The informations we find out there are too different with a too wide range and, of course, not everybody is up for real books or researches in the matter. For example, there is who claim that there is no need to warm-up and who, instead, based everything on it. 

Therefore my intentions, here, are eventually trying to clarify and categorize the materials, so you can select easily the best options for you.

Before jump into these variables and finally list some example of warming-up, i would like to examine the 2 extremes of our spectrum wich i called 0 (NO WARM-UP) and 10 (ONLY WARM-UP LEVEL TRAINING). Consider that, for me, both, 0 and 10 style, are applaiable as long as there is connection with the variables; you can than use this system for everyday's warm-up choise assuming that the goal of course is to work-out optimally and strategically.

0- NO WARM-UP option is based on the "lion situation theory". It tells that if you are chased suddently from a lion (which is a methapor rappresenting a dengerous situation that you are abruptly forced to face) what options do you have?: Ask the lion time to warm-up? No you can't. This approach aims to create a very robust and reliable body ready for every hits of the life. There is one more component in favor of this style; when you are suddenly shocking the body system with an "hard" (load or intesity) exercise, without any preparation-activation, the hormonal body responses on it are stronger. In other words, more gain and strength.

I understand and partially agree with these 2 points that gustify a non warm-up approach style, but these theories are not often applaiable nowadays. Unfortunatly we don't move like before, so, in mostly of the cases, this approach will be too aggressive. Secondly, the hormonal responses you get in a real degnerous life situation are not parallely comparable in the gym where you actually need to start to move in order to create some hormonal response. 

Despite all of this, this approach may still find a small percentage of people to be addressed.

10- in the highest point of the spectrum, as spoken, we find who always stays on a warm-up level in terms of intensity and load; this approach meets a much higher number of  person (regolar, as well as athlete of any kind) because includes and benefits, for example, people with acute or chronic physical issues, whom, perhaps, just temporarily needs a low profile; people who are new (young or not) in the training system, who needs to learn exercises tecnique and body reactions; and athletes in a low load recovery day.

At the same time, it also include who chooses to train on a warm-up level and stays there all the time, becuase of lack on knowledge, confidence and consistency.. or for being too much lazy; in these cases there is a high risk of getting stuck or not seeing any results at all (or even a regression) and, ultimately,  ending up quitting.

Now, following the way i am using here to explaine you the different levels of warm-ups, if we were to put down the number 5 style, it would be exactly in the middle, so it will basically recall the charateristics of a "regoular" warm-up:

-between 10-15' of time;

-progressive intensity;

-raise body temperature;

From here, if you need more, for any reason, you will have to move up on the scale, and viceversa, if you feel like you can go with a smaller (time or intensity) warm-up, you will move down. 

This is the system i am using with my athletes and my self, that allows me to quantify and manage my work-out preparation.

Stay tuned for part 2 where i will list all the variables and the warm-up tipes.