Warm Up

Well I have had my first topic request, and it is about warming up. So I thought that this week's topic would be in response to that request. To me this is a very important part of a workout that is typically overlooked by many athletes, and all too often coaches overlook this as well. The warm up that I am speaking of specifically is that prior to a strength training session.
Ideally before beginning a strength training session you would want to get the body's core temperature up and this can be done a number of ways. Some examples are a light jog, shooting some hoops, or even a spin on an Air Dyne bike. No matter what your modality, you want to make sure that you have a bit of a sweat going before you begin your actual workout.
Following the activity of your choice for raising your core temperature I would then have you go through a "dynamic warm up." This is the part of the warm up where the muscles get stretched and shortened, but it is done in a dynamic and athletic way. I will almost never have an athlete do any type of static stretching, (stretching where you hold a stretch for a specific amount of time). In fact, the only people I suggest static stretching to are those who are severely inflexible.
Getting your body temperature up and the dynamic warm up done should together take only about 15 minutes, so it is not a huge time commitment. Also, up to this point, this is the same warm up I would use if it was a conditioning or agility/plyo day. Now you are ready to begin the actually lifting portion of the workout.


Example Dynamic Warm Up Drills

Duck walk
Lunge walk
Side step kick hip open
Side step kick hip closed
Power skip-height
Power skip-distance
Squat jumps
Skates
Backward reaching kick
Carioca- I really don’t know how to spell this.
Side shuffle
Back pedal
Sprint

Not an exhaustive list but enough to definitely get you started.

In a later article I will discuss programming of a workout, but in general I start with the quick explosive movements, such as a clean, then core movement, such as a box squat, and then on to auxiliary/ supplementary movements such as a bench press. Every workout my athletes will perform 2-3 sets of jump shrugs or clean pulls. This just helps get the body ready to do the explosive movements of the Olympic Lifts and is then followed by an ascending set/rep scheme. When moving to the core lifts I require that the athlete perform 3 sets of 5-10 repetitions at gradually increasing sub maximal weight. Obviously this is very generic, but in a weight room of 80+ athletes it is a good guideline to keep them on task.
As with anything else, when working one on one you are able to better tailor your warm up to your specific needs and weaknesses. The above listed example works well across the board. As always if you have any questions or comments please feel free to contact me at: tkolb@northernmichigansportsmed.com.