A Guide to My Dynamic Warm-up
In the last post, I detailed what my training program looks like for the first phase of Spring 2012. There was a time when I would have taken that program, went into the gym, and just started firing away after a few warm-up sets. Well, that was when I was 22 years old. I'm now approaching the ripe athletic age of 40 and after 25 years of hitting the iron in some way, shape, or form, my body needs a little more preparation in order to perform. Enter, the dynamic warm-up.
The normal "warm-up" of sitting on the bike for 10 minutes just doesn't cut it anymore. Sure it will get your core temperature up and a little blood flowing, but it does little in the form of prepping the muscles for the intense stretch and contraction they are about to go through. Nor does a little light cardio movement do anything for upper body joint lubrication.
Before beginning any intense strength training session I now do a thorough dynamic warm up to loosen up the joints, ignite the Central Nervous System, reduce the risk of injury, and to just prepare my body overal for the training session ahead. My warm-ups vary from phase to phase. But no matter what phase I am in, I try to always include:
- One or Two Bounding Exercises to fire up the central nervous system
- Two lower body movements (such as bodyweight squats and/or lunges) to get the quads, glutes and hamstrings ready for the work ahead, as well as loosen up the knees, ankles, and hips
- One or Two Shoulder/Scapluar Rotation Exercises to loosen up the rotator cuff
- An Upper Body Pressing Move (such as Push-ups) to prep the chest, shoulders, and triceps muscles for the work ahead, as well as loosen up the wrists, elbows, and shoulders
- A Static Stretch for the Hip Flexor, and
- A Stretch for the Chest/Shoulder Tie-in
These are bare minimums. Like I said, this will change from one phase to the next depending on what the actual training entails.
The following is a full layout of the the dynamic flexibility work, mobility work and muscle activation drills that I am currently using to warm up before each workout:
1) Jumping Jacks: 10 reps
2) Spiderman Climb with a Reach (SCREACH): 5 reps per side
3) Wrist Circles and Forearm Stretches: 10 reps in each direction
4) Plate Halos: 10 reps in each direction
5) Skin the Cat: 10 reps
6) Total Body Extensions: 10 reps
7) Dynamic Hip Flexion: 10 per side
8) Fire Hydrants: 10 per side
9) Kettlebell Bootstrap Squat: 10 reps
10) Psoas Stretch: 20 seconds per side
11) Step-ups or Prisoner Lunge: 5 reps per side
12) Straight Leg Swings: 10 reps
13 Side Leg Swings: 10 reps
14) WYLIT’s: 5 reps of each
15) Cat-Camel: 10 reps
16) Bird-Dog: 2 reps per side of 10 second holds
17) Pushups: a slow, deep 10 reps
18) Glute Bridge: 20 second hold
19) Downward Dog Pumping Calf Stretch: 10 reps per side
20) Chest Stretch: 20 seconds per side
NOTE: This whole process may or may not start out with some foam rolling. I say "may" because I only use this when certain areas in my back or legs feel tight or knotted. Areas that I am concerned with here are the IT band, hamstrings, lower back, glutes, and lats. If needed, I will do a minimum of ten passes on each focused area. After foam rolling I would then move on to the dynamic flexibility/ mobility work and muscle activation drills that were listed above.
This entire warm up process takes about ten minutes or so and, by the end of it, I'm fully prepared for the training session ahead. In fact, after I started incorporating such movements, I noticed an instant boost in my strength training performance.
Was I missing something all of these years? Should I have been doing this sooner?
You bet I should have!
Heck...when you think about it, every single athlete goes through a thorough warm-up process before practices and games no matter what age or level they are at. Why shouldn't we tackle our training sessions the same way? So not only do I do this every single workout myself, I have the bulk of my clients doing the same. No matter what...I don’t skip it.
Next post will be full coverage of what my two cardio days look like. See you then!
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