Warm Up 101

Why warm up?

For a lot of people when I mention the term WARM UP, they immediately think of just a casual jog or row. Not to say that this is wrong, but there is much more to an effective warm up than just jogging. Many studies have shown that specific and a well-planned warm up can reduce the occurrence of soft tissue injuries and even increase performance.

With that said, your warm up should work harmoniously with your training goal for that particular activity or workout. Your warm up should be tailored to the activity/ sport/ workout but also to the individual strengths and weaknesses. To go one step further, take into account your day to day activities such as your job (i.e. if your an office worker and find yourself sat down all day, then adding in some simple hip flexor stretches + upper/lower back stretches) could change how you perform and feel day to day, and increase your longevity in and out of the gym.

How to plan your warm up

Your warm up should vary based on the individual. Some individuals might need 5-10 mins to warm up while others might take 20+ mins to get an effectively warm up. I would recommend roughly 10- 15 minutes before every session. Although that doesn’t sound like an awful long time, if you were to train 5 days a week, you would end up spending 1.15hrs priming and taking care of your body weekly.

After reading Science of Sports (a scientific approach to warming up article) i came across the RAMP PROTOCOL , and have been using it ever since. The structure is very simple to follow and can be used for multiple sports and training goals.

RAMP stand for

• RAISE

• ACTIVATE & MOBILISE

• POTENTIATE or PERFORMANCE

RAISE ( 3 - 5 Mins)

In this phase of your warm up, your primary goals are the following:

• Increase core temperature

• increase Blood flow

• increase breathing rate

• increase heart rate

• increase joint fluid viscosity (loosen up the joints)

Examples of things you could do for this phase includes:

• Multi directional Run Drills (more Sport Specific)

• Stationary Bike, Skipping, light jog , light bodyweight exercises or light Complex work (more gym specific)

To try and keep things interesting try and mix up your RAISE phase and be creative if you like

ACTIVATE & MOBILISE ( 3 - 5 mins)

The key goals of this phase is to:

• Activate Key muscle groups

• Activate under-utilised/ Lacking Muscle groups

• Mobilise key joints

• increase ranges of motion

I also use this phase to include any Prehab and rehab exercises

Example of things you could do for this phase include:

• Stability exercises

• Rehabilitation Exercises

• Dynamic/ Static Stretches

• Foam rolling and Trigger point work

• Any Glute activation work

When planning and executing this phase make sure to consider the fundamental movement of what your workout/ activity will require. Try and listen to your body i.e., your about to squat but notice your hips are very tight therefore affecting your range and technique, take some extra time to mobilise the joint/ muscle before going back into your squats)

POTENTIATE / PERFORMANCE ( 5 - 10 mins)

At this point of your warm up you should be switched on (physically & mentally) ready to kill your workout or play the game of your life, this is generally the Priming phase.

Here we to start implement specific exercises that will lead to direct improvement of the following activities and will generally start leading into the workout or game.

The 2 main objectives are to:

• Increase intensity to that comparable to Full training or Game intensity

• Fine tuning motor skills that will be used during full training to game (ei Squating, Benching

Examples of this phase could be:

• high intensity multi-directional run ( In sport)

• Small sided Games (In Sport)

• Acceleration drills (in sport)

• Agility drills (in Sport)

• Incrementally upping weight over a few warm up sets , uphill you reach your desired working weight ( in the gym)

HOW DO I PUT THIS SHIT TOGETHER….

So now that I’ve given you a basic structure on how to plan your warm up, all you have to do is follow the RAMP structure and you’ll be fine

BUT….

If you are still stressing about it here is how I would plan my own warm up for my “SQUAT day”

Raise

⁃ Stationary Bike or Skipping

Activation and mobilise

⁃ bodyweight squats

⁃ Static stretch (glutes, adductors, hip flexors, calves ect..)

⁃ Dynamic Stretch (glutes, adductors, hip flexors, calves, back and mid thoracic ect..)

⁃ Foam roll

⁃ Deep goblet squats (hold at the bottom)

⁃ Glute Activation

Potentiate/ Performance

⁃ warm up set @ bar weight * 10 reps

⁃ Warm up set @60kg * 8 reps

⁃ warm up set @80kg * 6 reps

⁃ warm up set @ 100kg *5

Here are my 2 favourite guys doing their bench workout