I haven't written post in a very long time but my workout yesterday made me want to share something that I've known for a while, but do not practice as much as I should.
~The importance of a good warm up and how that can help your workouts!~
Now, not all of my workouts are SUPER HARD, but at least 2 a week are. Yesterday I had the opportunity to go to the gym half an hour before my TRX/Kbell class and decided to warm up that entire time and man oh man was my workout way better!
I found this made me be able to get more out of my workout and I handled the entire class way better than I usually do.
Now, I'm not saying that you need a half an hour warm up before every workout, but when you know you're going to hit it hard... it's probably not a bad idea if you have the time (even 15 minutes is better than 5)
So what did I do in that time... great question! When I warm up I general hit 4 areas
1. Cardiovascular system: This is just getting my heart rate up. I will intermittently perform some light cardio at various times during my warm up. I go long enough so I feel like I'm working at a 6/10 by the end of my cardio "bout". For me at the moment that usually equals about 100-150 rotations of skipping or so when I'm not warmed up.
2. Hips: I will focus a large portion of my warm ups on just opening my hips. That's because mine are VERY tight (at this point I'm actually thinking it's genetic, or at least that's what I tell myself). I generally focus on external rotation, flexion, and extension. Each exercise I do for about 30seconds-1 minute. I'm not as concerned with repetitions, more of the movement and how that movement feels.
This results in the following generally:
A) Wide base body weight squats: Feet out side of hips, feet forward, knees not over toes. I focus more on letting gravity progressively bring me lower to the ground. Be aware what your trunk and pelvis are doing.
B) Side lunge: Wide WIDE legs, one foot pointed forward, one pointed out (warrior 2 position for you yogis). I move in and out of the position and ad a spinal side bend over head after about 30 seconds for another 30 seconds then repeat on the other side.
C) Hip Width Squats: I then will try narrower squat form thinking about the same form cues as A and looking to see where more form needs work/body needs mobility.
D) Long Lung Hip Flexor-Hamstring Warm Up: I really don't have a better name than that for this exercise. I go into a long lunge with a straight back leg. Keeping my back long and straight I flex at the hips forward and push my pelvis forward thinking about slight posterior rotation of the pelvis to hit my hip flexor origin (front leg is bent), then on my next exhale I straighten my front leg and move backwards slightly to hit my hamstring..... that sounds confusing... lets see if I can find a picture on the inter webs.....
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| Here's the lunge one I do |
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| And the hamstring one |
3. Spine: Ensuring you are properly mobilizing and warming up your spine is super important when your lifting, twisting, jumping... and doing stuff. If you are more of a bendy-kid mobilizing may not be as necessary, but I would encourage you to focus on stabilization in different spinal ranges.
For warming up my spine in terms of mobility, I generally add range of motion exercises to my hip and shoulder series (see side B in hips). Some other exercises I particularly fond of because my upper back moves so terribly are.....
A) Supine Thoracic Spine Rotation: you essentially lie down in the fetal position on one side (people look at you like you're fricken nuts at the gym when you do this FYI) then open up your chest by bringing your top arm across your body and try and get your shoulder to the ground. DO NOT FORCE THIS MOVEMENT... use gravity to assist you but don't force the rotation, you could hurt yourself. Do about 15-20 each side
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| Supine thoracic rotation |
B) Cat-Cow to Bird Dog: You're on all fours for both of these exercises. For bird dog keep in mind to make sure both hip bones are facing the ground and you do NOT feel anything in your lower back. If you do, your not engaging your core properly. I do about 1 min of cat cow, then 15-20 bird dogs each limb... They look like this...
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| Cat-Cow |
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| Bird Dog |
The google machine can also help with this
4. Shoulders. I do lots of stuff for my shoulders. Scapular setting, RCT activation, proprioceptive training, serrates anterior and lower trap activation both dynamic and statically. Due to the complexity of the shoulder I feel that explaining these exercises is beyond the scope of this article. If you have specific questions you can always e-mail me at robynbertram@gmail.com
NOTE: if you are unsure of how to do any of the following to maximize your form 1-2 sessions with a qualified professional will go a long way! (e.g., physiotherapist, athletic therapists, CSEP or NSCA trained personal trainer).
I'm not just saying that because I'm advocating for my profession, but I did not learn how to properly warm up just from reading stuff.... very smart people who have lots of education and experience in the area of movement and performance helped me :)
So that's a little of what I do when I know I'm gonna have a hard-ass workout. If you want to learn more feel free to leave a comment, email me, or talk to me outside of the inter webs if you know me like that.
Stay strong!
~Byn
