Warming up has changed throughout the years. Back when I was in high school athletics we did a series of static stretches. You know the kind…the whole team spreads out in lines on the field and you bend over and reach for your toes while trying to keep your knees straight at the same time you count to 10 as a team then clap and move onto the next stretch. Most the time nobody was real serious about getting a good stretch, half the time someone would break wind and then the whole stretching session was blown because we would be laughing so hard. I’ll be honest we were just going through the motions to keep coach happy. When I worked in a large commercial gym I saw the same attitude. People bending over a few times, stretching their “hams” and then walking over to the bench press and proceed to workout. I have no idea how hamstring stretching gets one ready for bench press, but I saw it everyday. If they were real serious they would shake their arms while walking over to the bench.
Here are some key point to a correct warm-up
- Perform a general full body warm-up: Some people think a quick run on the treadmill works, but unless you’re only doing legs in your workout than it is hardly an appropriate warm-up, and even then it would only be appropriate if all your movements were in the anterior/posterior plane (exercises only moving forward or backward, like forward lunge).
- Focus on full ranges of motion: Even though running may somewhat warm your legs up for forward exercises like lunges it hardly takes your legs through the complete range of motion required for real lunges.
- Multi-planar movements: Again in our running example above we are only moving in the forward/backward motion, we skip the lateral plane (side to side) and the transverse (rotational) planes too. Life is multi-planar, front/back, side to side, rotational movements are required daily, so our workouts should incorporate them as well.
- Emphasize the activation of key muscle groups like the core, scapular stabilizers and glutes
- Elevates total body temperature: an effective warm-up will induce a sweat
- Excites the nervous system: Not only are key muscle groups activated through the nervous system, but balance and coordination are called into play as well.
- Utilize dynamic stretching movements: Dynamic stretches are held for 2-3 seconds compared to 20-30 seconds with static stretching. And instead of being completely passive, the antagonistic (opposite) muscle is contracted while stretching the target muscle. In functional stretching (a form of dynamic stretching) multiple muscles are stretched at once, balance is incorporated as well as neural integration (coordination). The stretches look similar to yoga poses.
- If performing maximum effort movements ie: 1 rep max, then perform a specific warm up with that exercise. In the bench press example above, do some scap push-ups or a low intensity set(s) of bench press to get the specific muscle and movement warmed-up.
Below are a few of the warm-ups we utilize in our Orem EXL Fitness Boot Camp, as well as in our personal training settings. The big advantage to these routines is that they can literally be performed anywhere…no equipment and only with enough room to do a push-up.
Stay Fit,
Mat “the trainer”
Mat Gover BS, CSCS and Pam Gover CPT are Orem fitness boot camp instructors, personal trainers, and real world fat loss experts. They also own EXL Fitness & Performance, a personal and group training studio. To book Mat to speak at your Utah Valley company, club, or organization please contact him by email at matthetrainer@me.com or by phone at (801) 836.7185. For a free two-week trial to boot camp and experience the best personal training in Utah Valley please call Mat or drop by the gym (1623 N State St, Orem right next to Costa Vida).
As a fitness trainer, I get a lot of questions like “What is the best exercise for ______” fill in the blank. I get asked as if there is one exercise that “rules them all” (to borrow a phrase from Lord of the Rings). One of the most common areas of concerns is the lower body, specifically the butt and thighs. Today I’m going to share one of my personal favorite lower body exercises and all of its awesome variations. It’s called the Rear-Foot Elevated Split Squat (a.k.a. Bulgarian Split Squat). This exercise is so effective that once you master it, your thighs and knees will be bullet proof!
