WARM-UP part 2

Hi 

Thank you for reaching part 2.

With these 2 posts I aim to clarify the subject warming-up and ultimately give you more tools to properly organize your daily warm-up routine.

As i said in part 1, there are many variables you should consider when preparing for your training.

Before illustrate them, i would like to list some extrapoints in order to give you even more details to keep in mind:

-there are different levels of warming up (exercises choise, intensity, duration, progression), the more you are an expert and in a good shape, the more your warm-up level can raise up. What for somebody is a warm-up, for somebody else can be a work-out.

-what ever is your level, focus and intensions don't need to be warming-up; this means that the warm-up has to be done at your best from the beginning. No sloppy reps but only good quality movement and intensity. 

-theoretically, harder is your work-out, better you should warm-up.

-the more your sport is about sprinting and speed or load, the better you should warm-up.

-if you train everyday you probably may need a even better warm-up to "meld" the stiffness from the previous work-out.

-beside raising the body temperature and general preparation, you should include specific exercises addressing your weak points in order to perform better after and forever.

-indipendently from what will be your activity (weigth lifting, soccer, volleyball...), i encourage you to incorporate, especially at the beginning of the warm-up, some very slow motion exercises in order to improve the quality of your movement and teach your body the right channel to follow for that specific movement (neruomuscolar control). This will result in a less risks of injury, feelling better with more results. 

Now, without further delay, let's put down these variables:

1) Age (theoretically, as we age, we also need to put more attention into the warm-up)

2) Type of training (the warm-up should be connectted with the work-out by incorporating some skill-releated elements or movements; if you do fitness, or run or play volleyball the warm-up for these activities, especially in its last part, should be different. This aim to perform better and decrease the risks of injury)

3) Training experience (the more training experience you have, the more your training can be harder, so the better you shoould warm-up; but, at the same time, you will be able, with your experience, to pick the right warm-up routine for you, which will result in a no time lost, keepping the warm-up time in the standard range. Opposite consideration can be done for the less experience people.

4) Body knowledge (similar consideration like point 3)

5) Time of the training (for example if you train early in the morning, right after wake-up, you may need little bit longer warm-up, especially if you are one feeling stiff in the morning)

6) General and specific physical condition at the moment (this variable consider the specific feeling  when you have to start to train which it may be a consequence of your life style or a consequence of any acute or cronic injuries. Prioritaize your rehab exercises first, but in general the worse you feel the better you should warm-up.

7) Previous day activities (if, for example, you arrive at the gym by biking or you just clean up all the house right before hop on on your training, your warm-up can be minimal (0 if you are also training expert and if you have body knowledge). Oppositly if you come from 8h sitting job in front of a computer, you will need high scale warm-up number.

8) Preferences (warm-up don't have to be necessarly boring. I would put something that i like with something that i need)

9) Environment of the training (especially for outdoor training you should consider the temperature, the wind and the presence of meteorological precipitations). Beside wearing the right equiments, cold and wind require longer warm-up as well as the precence of raining or snow primarily for the possibility of slippery surface. So your muscolar and nervous system should be well activated.

Finally let's see some warm-up tipes:

 

-FALLOW THE MOBILITY/STABILITY RULES

biomechanics says that some joints need to be mobilized (ankle, hips, thoracic spine, shoulders) and other stabilized (knee, lower back, shoulders) in order to improve your performance and mostly feeling better withing your body;

you can pick one mobility exercise for each one of the mobility joints and than one stability exercise for each one of the stability joints. You can perform 1 to 3 rounds as needed.

-FREE BODY EXERCISES

pick 6-8 free body exercises targeting each area of the body (squat, push-ups, dead lift, 45° chest to bar fix, bridging, lunges....). You can perform 1 to 3 rounds as needed

-MOTION WARM-UP

similar concept to the one above; try to incorporate in your routine one exercise for each human body main motion (push, pull, flex, extend, hinge, throw, climb. run....)

-CORE

this warm-up focus on engage and simultaneously train your core area. Start with one easier circuit with 3-4 exercises and than pick 3-4 harder exercises for a second round.  While doing Core warm-up exercises you will also include the rest of your body with the result of having the whole body engaged and body temperature raised.

-PERFORM THE SAME MOTION OF YOUR WORK-OUT BUT WITH LOWER INTENSITY 

this method consist in performing the same kind of movement of what will be your activity or work-out or sport, but with a much lower intensity (load, speed, range of motion..)

for instance, if you are a sprinter start jogging than increase progressively your speed reducing the space

if you are a power lifter start lifting with smaller load

-JOINTS POPPING

This is a low level warm-up scale (my scale) where you are just gently popping your joints using your body and/or some tools like foam roller, lacrosse ball, peanut ball, stick...

I usually use this as pre warm-up (especially i am popping my thoracic spine, knees, ankles and shoulder) because it gives me a sense of more freedom in my movement and actually the feelling of more blood and energy flow into my body. You can jump into the work-out after or using this before another warm-up.

-MYOFASCIA RELEASE

To keep it simple this tecnique includes the use of tools (similar to the one i listed in the JOINTS POPPING and more) to release the myofascia which is a connective tissue system that separates and contains every muscle of the body and runs from the top of your head down to the bottom of your toes; the tecnique consist in using these tools and your body weight to pressuring some specific points of the fascia. However, doing it properly on full body requires a big amount of time and also it doesn't really follow the structural characteristics of a regular warm-up (progression and body temperature raise)

I actually like it more in a recovery day, or after a long trip before a small work-out. 

-ANIMAL FLOW 

This method is a sequence of floor exercises which imitate some animal movements. It can be a real work-out or used as a warm-up. Adjusting the exercises level, can be very usufull tool for improve your flexibility, stability and strength of the whole body. You can perform 2 to 3 rounds of 4 to 8 exercises when used as a warm-up.

-CARDIO

How not to include the cardio warm-up wich is the most overused warm-up system. What i don't like, is actually the way most of the people are using it, which is jumping directly into the work-out after 6' of a steady low pace machine (which is what most people do). This way doesn't make you ready to hit a work-out, doesn't really raise your temperature and lubrificate your whole body joints. Instead, if we incorporate 2-3 different cardio exercises targeting the entire  body and putting a progression intensity, than, it becomes a very efficient warm-up where you not only prepare the body for the daily activity but you also simultaneously train your cardio-vascular  and pulmunar system, coordination, movement quality and strength.

One nice routine can be:

-backward walk on a treadmill with high uphill% (4-5')

-throwing some punches and kicks on a box bag (4-5')

-jumping rope (1x100 2 legs / 1x30+30 1 leg)

-FOCUS ON YOUR WEAKNESS

Last but not least, this warm-up aim to reduce the gap between your weakness. To find them, try to listen to your body during your training time. When you find these differences (joint range, joint or movement control towards the correspondent or from one side to the other.....), put them in this routine first. This will balance your system and strength, allowing you to train safely and more succesfully.

You can combine these warm-up types together accordingly to what the variables say and how you feel. Keep it longer if you don't feel good, or shorter if you feel already engaged and energized. Focus on the movement; prefer slow motion exercises; center on your breathe (stay on nasal breath as long as you can enanching internal body temperature) and listen to your body, than,  move on accordingly. This will allow you to prepare not only physically but mentally as well.Put the ego aside if you need and have fun.

As always feel free to put down any criticism and comments below.

Thank you for reading.

Sincerely 

Alessandro