How to Write a Warm-Up for Strength Training
Walk into any commercial gym and here are the various warm-ups folks execute: - Swing the arms back and forth
- Quad stretches
- What warm-up?
What if you could enhance your workouts, prevent injuries, and perhaps strike up a conversation with that cute guy or girl in just 10 minutes? (Well, no promises on that last one.) The easy, albeit not-so-sexy, answer is: perform a dynamic warm-up! I get it, warm-ups are boring and unimpressive, but when done right, can go a long way to increasing the benefits of strength training and extending your lifting career.
What’s the point of performing a dynamic warm-up anyway?
- Increase bodytemperature- cold muscles, joints, and ligaments are more likely to get angry and sustain an injury.
- Prepare the body for movement, part 1- especially if you fly a desk all day long, the joints are probably a little gunky. Warm-ups help restore range of motion (link for temp loss of ROM) lost during periods of lack of motion.
- Prepare body for movement, part 2- exercises employed in warm-ups can help “groove” the nervous system for certain movements, making the body more efficient, which in turn allows it to hoist heavier weights. For example, a quadruped rock can prime the nervous system for hip hinging or squatting patterns.
- Activate dormant muscles- along the same lines as point #2, prolonged positions (i.e. sitting) can reduce the function or certain muscle groups, either through changes in muscle length or tension. A classic example is, prolonged sitting tends to shut down the glutes and tighten the hip flexors.; supremely unhelpful when trying to deadlift massive loads from the floor. If you want the maximum benefit, you need the muscles turned on!
- iYou look like a Jedi- true story: the first time I saw someone going through a dynamic warm-up (my to-be husband actually) I thought he was doing tai chi or some other marital art thingamabob.
Right, so you’re convinced you need to have a dynamic warm up before hitting the weights, but what do you do?
Let’s think in *very* general terms, everyone needs:
Correct breathing mechanics
Hip mobility
Glute activation
Thoracic spine (T-spine) mobility
Core stability
CNS (central nervous system) activation
Granted, depending on sport played, injury considerations, and whether or not you have laxity, the specific needs for each individual will be different. However, I’ve found that if you include exercises that encompass those components, you’ve got a pretty solid warm-up that will take care of 90% of the demands for general fitness preparation.
Here are some sample exercises geared toward the above mentioned characteristics:
90/90 Breathing
What it’s good for: breathing mechanics. This is a good beginner breathing drill if you or your client is having a hard time attaining 360-degree expansion of the diaphragm and rib cage.
I’m not going to delve into breathing today but if you want to know more (and you absolutely DO want to know more) you can read a few posts HERE and HERE (Also, indirectly, improving breathing mechanics will improve both t-spine and hip mobility.)
Crocodile Breathing
What it’s good for: breathing mechanics. Another good beginner drill as the floor provides tangible feedback for expansion.
Bulldog Hip Mobility
What it’s good for: hip mobility and core stability and a wee-bit of glute activation. Maintain a neutral spine and relatively stable hips as the knee moves around for maximum benefit.
Adductor Rockbacks
What it’s good for: hip mobility. Specifically this helps work out some of the gunk the adductors accumulate. If you don’t know what I mean, try a few rockbacks and you’ll instantly know where your adductors are. These bad boys are the “groin” in groin pulls and knotty, nasty adductors are more susceptible to pulls. Keep ‘em happy by rocking!
Half-Kneeling Hip Flexor Mob
What it’s good for: hip mobility and (indirectly) glute activation. This one, as the name implies, targets the hip flexors (front of the hip). Tight hip flexors can wreck havoc on pelvic position- which can set you up for back injuries or hamstring pulls- and, delightfully, shut down glute function through a process called reciprocal inhibition. Considering that most athletic endeavors require high-functioning glutes, this is a problem.
Glute Bridge
What it’s good for: glute activation. Wake up your sleepy glutes!
Quadruped Rockback
What it’s good for: hip mobility, core stability, CNS activation. Primarily, at SAPT, we use this to groove the hip hinge and teach neutral spine while moving. It also tells us if someone can squat to parallel or not by how their spine and hips move. Read more about that HERE.
Bird Dog
What it’s good for: glute activation, core stability, CNS activation. Try to maintain a neutral spine and pretend you have to balance a glass of water on your butt. You’ll feel it in the right places. The cross-body movement (opposite arm and leg moving) fires up the CNS and solidifies coordination between the brain’s two hemispheres.
Spiderman with Overhead Reach
What it’s good for: hip and T-spine mobility. This hit everything and feels amazing. Make sure you follow your hand with your head so the neck isn’t cranked around.
Bear Crawl
What it’s good for: core stability and CNS activation. Similar to the bird dog, by maintaining a neutral spine and level hips, the core muscles have to fire and the brain has to coordinate the cross-body limb movement. (Technically, there’s a some glute action in there as they come in to stabilize the hips laterally.)
Yoga Pushup to T-Rotation
What it’s good for: All of the above. If you’re very limited on time, this is a great all-around movement to hit everything in one swoop. As a bonus, it grooves the pushup technique and encourages scapular movement- which is often non-existent in most people.
Stepback Lunge with Over-The-Shoulder Reach
What it’s good for: all of the above. Plus, you’ll look like one cool cat doing this one.
Walking SL RDL with Reach (forward or backwards)
What it’s good for: all of the above. In addition to all the other benefits, this one will challenge your balance. This is another exercise that can help groove a pattern, namely the hip hinge.
Putting it all together
Another note, I try to program warm-ups to progress- loosely anyway- from ground, to quadruped, to standing. For example:
Crocodile Breathingx 8 breaths
Quadruped Rockbacks x 10
DL Glute Bridge x 8, hold :02
Bulldog Hip Mobility x 8 each
Spiderman w/ OH Reach x 6/side, hold 1 breath
Bear Crawl x 8 yds
Walking SL RDL x 6/side
That whole thing should take about 5-8 minutes; a small commitment for big benefits!
The body is like a car: you can’t expect the car to speed off at 80 miles and hour on a cold day. Likewise, you can’t expect your body to jump into heavy strength work while it’s still cold. Prevent injuries and capitalize on your time under the bar by employing a proper warm-up before each training session.
That Time of Year for a Track Workout
The other day, I got a message from an old friend asking if I could give him advice for a track workout. With Spring here, there's no better time to be outside huffing and puffing on a track. He was interested in doing some HIIT and other methods that he had read about to help get in shape for the summer, but didn’t know how to put the program together or how to progress it. I know exactly how he feels, it's gorgeous outside and if I can do my workouts in the sun, I feel better for it. I like HIIT training, especially for general fitness and weight loss, but I think often times it’s misused and put on a pedestal as God’s greatest gift to anyone owning a stop watch. The problem is there aren't many good resources that explain many of the popular conditioning methods such as HIIT or how to progress into them. So when I write track programs for my weight loss and general fitness clients, I like to structure it like this:
*Though this is a track workout, this is not what I would give track athletes. This is for the gym goer who wants to get some workouts outside, improve their work capacity, lose weight and add to their overall level of bad-assery.*
Phase 1: GPP (General Physical Preparedness), Aerobic Power Development
If you’ve been training over the Winter, then you can probably forgo this phase. If you’re just getting off the couch, you need this. GPP is needed to ensure that your body is functioning and moving well before you start to stick it with more intensive and specific movements. Going into an intense track program without a good movement base to ensure proper mobility/stability would be akin to riding a bull without ever having rode a horse. It’s going to hurt and it won’t last long.
A standard weight-training plan, chalk full of diverse movements, should get you where you need to go. Recently, Coach Kelsey did an article on the subject of GPP, powerlifts and all things heavy for Tony Gentilcore that may give you better understanding of the subject.
The other goal of this phase should be some aerobic power development. Aerobic Power refers to the amount of energy (ATP) your aerobic system can produce in a given amount of time. This is needed to build an aerobic base for recovery between bouts on the track. Unless you’re performing slow, long distance runs (booooooring), the energy for almost all sprint work you do will largely come from the anaerobic system and depend on your aerobic system for recovery between the bouts. Therefore, if you lack an aerobic base, you’re not going to make it through many rounds of the “meat and potatoes” of wave 2.
Translation: Lets say you have a solar-powered hybrid (and hopefully you don’t drive like most hybrid owners). It runs on electricity and gas. The electricity can last a long time, but not produce a whole lot of energy at once or get you where you need to go fast. The gas can make you go faster, but is used up at a much higher rate and usually forces you to revert back to using electricity when it runs low. In this way, your body’s aerobic energy pathway (the one that uses oxygen) is like the electricity and the anaerobic pathway (no oxygen needed) is like the gas. If you aren’t driving hard, then the solar-pannels can actually charge your battery as you drive. If you drive really hard then you are forced to use you gas until it depletes and you must slow down and use electricity.
Now the cool thing about your body that unfortunately our cars can’t do, is it can use those solar panels (breathing) to regenerate the gas (anaerobic pathway), just at a very slow rate. Traditional distance running at a slow, steady pace will give you a bigger battery (aerobic capacity), but will not help you to recharge any faster (aerobic power). For phase 1, we’re going to be improving the battery slightly, but mainly focus on connecting those solar panels to help you recharge faster.
I personally like to develop aerobic power work while performing GPP work through circuit training. Maintaining your heart rate somewhere between 110 and 160 (+/- 10 bpm depending on age) throughout a workout of 40-60 minutes is really all you need to get a training stimulus for the aerobic pathway. Not letting your heart rate dip much below 110 will keep your aerobic system going and help with overall work capacity, though the main adaptation we want comes from the brief rest periods between exercises that should help with aerobic power. After each set, it’s important to let the heart rate drop back down to around 100- 110 bpm so as not to rob yourself of the power adaptation. We then get it back up and repeat. Doing this 2-3x/week at varying intensities will produce the aerobic power needed in roughly 3-4 weeks. I should also note that it really helps to put running style movements into the workout.
For example, the workout would look something like this:
3-5 Rounds: :20-40 between exercises 2-3:00 between rounds of active mobility work (not static stretching)
A1. RDL x5-7
A2. 3 Point Row x8/side
A3. Spiderman Crawl x 10 yds down and back
A4. Stepback Goblet Lunge x8/side
A5. Plank x:30
3-5 Rounds: :20-40 between exercises 1:00-2:00 between rounds
B1. Goblet Squat x8-12
B2. Pushup(adjust as needed) x6-8
B3. Lateral High Knees x10-yds/side
B4. Side Plank x:15/side
* The rest periods should be manipulated so that that individual can stays within the 120-160 BPM throughout the circuit. When you rest between sets, let it drop down to 100-110*
This initial stage is when you should start running and acclimating your body to the repetitive motions, strides and forces if you haven't already. Let the aerobic development of the circuit training be your main conditioning whereas your actual running work should be more technique focused. Nothing fancy, work up to running 1.5 miles TOTAL at a steady working pace in one training session. I recommend doing this by just breaking it up in shorter bouts and making sure you’re RUNNING, not jogging (jogging makes you easier to kill). Again, if you already run one to two times per week, you’re probably good to go. This could even be a game of any field sport on weekends. The purpose of all this is more to be sure that when you start adding time on the track that your body doesn't have a negative response to the sudden increase in running volume.
Phase 2: Explosive Repeats and Extensive Tempo
The quick bursts of explosiveness followed by longer rest may seem easy, but you’re actually maximizing the quality of work being done for the session. The fast twitch muscle fibers that we’re addressing have the most capacity for growth. They are also more anaerobically based. This workout is designed to help teach them to recover aerobically (beefin’ up dem solar panels) and allow for more overall quality sprint work to be done. It also allows us to ease into our sprint work more efficiently. Waaay too many programs take you into high intensity sprint work too quickly which usually results in muscle pulls.
The constant repetitiveness of the acceleration phase of the sprint is also going to tax your muscles without taking you into the max velocity phase of the sprint. Plainly stated: in the acceleration phase, your muscles must primarily focus on the overall force output. In contrast, during the max velocity phase you have to fight to keep up the pace and maintain a high rate of force production. It is then that you have a higher chance of muscle pulls or strains, especially as you try to maintain that speed longer.
It’s for these reasons that for this first day,most of our work is in the acceleration phase. Each work bout should last between 8 and 12 seconds and be timed so that you don’t reach your max velocity of the rep until about 5-15 meters from your finishing point.
On the second day, we’re going to introduce some longer distance sprint work at moderate intensities. The longer distance helps trainees to self-regulate their sprint speed so they can maintain form for the duration of the sprint. This should negate any issues that usually arise from training the max velocity maintenance phase that was mentioned in the previous paragraph. It’s also going to help the trainee to collect his/her sprinting rhythm.
Sprinting rhythm is something that must be practiced before indulging in any sprint-style conditioning program. That’s why we’re doing it now before moving onto the most intensive phase. Many people like to over-tense their body, thinking more effort means more speed. More effort often means wasted effort and the longer distance sprints will make you think twice before wasting it. It also gives you more time to collect said rhythm.
These workouts will be done in an A-B-A-B fashion, totaling 3 workouts per week. Meaning over 4 weeks, you should have had 12 track workouts. If you’re limited on time, doing these each once per week will still provide huge benefits, however I would scale the next phase back a little. Also, I should note that I’d recommend still maintaining an intelligent weight training program in cohesion with this twice per week.
**A quick note on the intensity percentage: It’s meant for the intensity of the relative distance. Meaning that if I can run 100m in 10 seconds at 100% intensity, then it would take me 12 seconds to run 100m at 80% intensity. Your estimated time does not have to be 100% accurate, you’ll have a feel for it after your first couple workouts. But, if you start missing your projected/estimated on bouts, then add more recovery time.**
A Day
1)General Warm Up
2)Striders 3-5 rounds increasing intensity with each set
3)Explosive repeats:
*Vary your reps based on heart rate. 8:00 minutes of active rest between sets. Fit in some dynamic mobility work and form drills in the 8:00.*
Workout 1 2x6-8 40M Sprint at 85-90%. :50-1:00 between reps,
Workout 3 2x7-9 40M Sprint at 85-90%. :40-:50 between reps
Workout 5 2x7-9 40M Sprint at 90-95%. :35-:45 between reps
Workout 7 2x6-8 50M Sprint at 85-90%. :35-:45 between reps
workout 9 2x7-9 50M Sprint at 90-95%. :35-45 between reps
workout 11 2x7-9 50M Sprint at 90-95%. :30-40 between reps
B Day
1)General Warmup
2)Build Ups
3)Extensive Tempo Runs:
*Do not add more than 600M at a time to your total volume between sessions*
Workout 2 3x3-5 200M at 75% 30 with 2-3:00 between reps 5-6:00 between sets
Workout 4 3x4-5 200M at 75% 30 with 2-2:30 between reps 6:00 between sets
Workout 6 4x3-4 200M at 80% with 1:30-2:30 between reps 5:00 between sets
Workout 8 4x2-3 300M at 75% with 2-3:00 between reps 5-6:00 between sets
Workout 10 2x4-6 300M at 75% with 2-3:00 between reps 7:00 between sets
Workout 12 3x3-4 300M at 80% with 2-2:30 between 5-6:00 between sets
Phase 3: Lactate Capacity
With the exception of certain sporting events, lactate capacity work is really overused in conditioning programs. However, it does yield nice results in a general weight-loss program due to the increase in GH that high levels of lactate yields. This phase is a bit more grueling as your muscles are going to be pumping battery acid on the 400 M repeats. Recovery-based movements will be done immediately after to move the lactate from the prime movers to the tonic/stabilizing muscles. This will help because tonic muscles are generally more slow twitch and thus better suited to metabolize the lactate and recover. This is also why developing the aerobic power from the last wave will be so crucial. If you did not attain the necessary base, your recovery time between each bout will be significantly longer, making the training stimulus we’re shooting for less effective.
If we go back to our car analogy, this wave is going to get your car to be able to floor it longer, then utilize those solar panels to be able to floor it again. We’re also going to put in a day to ensure that everything stays aligned and running well.
Depending upon how well your body handles it (and how well you can feel your legs the following days) you can do the 400m repeats UP TO twice per week. This will largely depend on your recovery and general training history.
A Day -If only doing once per week, do the odd days
1)General Warmup
2)Build Ups
3)400M repeats: All to be done at 85-95% effort depending on how you feel. Perform a slow cross crawl march for about :30 of recovery time
Workout 1 2x3-4 400M sprint with 1:30 between reps 5:00 between sets
Workout 2 3x3-4 400M Sprint with 1:45 between reps 6:00 between sets
Workout 3 4x3 400M sprint with 1:30 between reps 5:00 between sets
Workout 4 2x5 400M sprint with 2:00 between reps 4:00 between sets
Workout 5 4x3-4 400M sprint with 1:15 between reps
Workout 6 2x5 400M sprint with 1:30 between reps
Workout 7 4x4 400M sprint with 1:00 between reps
Workout 8 2x5 400M sprint with 1-1:30 between reps
The second day only needs to be done once per week as it’s just helping to feed your body for the 400m repeats. This is going to be a less traditional workout and focus on quality sprint work at a lower relative intensity when compared to the A day, but you will be more active with drills in between bouts. The drills serve to add to the efficiency of your form and/or rhythm, keep your HR from dipping down too low and give you a break from the monotony of more or less running in circles. Keep in mind the effort of executing them right should be high and the intensity at which they’re performed should be low.
Where as the A day will have your metabolism ramped up for a more extended period of time after the workout, this workout will burn more calories intra-workout. It will also aid in recovery as your body stays in a predominantly aerobic state and includes movements that will address a greater diversity of tissues/joint motions.
As far as weight training with this phase. A 1-2x/week plan is adequate whereas 3x/week may be a little much for most people.
B Day
All sprints to be done at 80-90%, all form/mobility drills should be done at about a pace of :25-35 execution. HR never dips below 110.
A1) 30-50 M Sprint
A2) 50 M light A Skips
A3) 30-50 M Sprint
A4) 50 M Reverse Open Gate Skip
A5) 30-50 M Sprint
A6) 50 M Goose Steps
2:30-5:00 rest
Some 0ther drills that you can use/swap in and out: B Skips, Butt Kicks, light bounds, and lateral step overs.
There you have it. Three waves of programming to get you off your butt and onto the track. Keep in mind to listen to your body and track your rest times carefully. From here, you could try traditional HIIT training or tabatta work as you should be pretty well suited for it. Go run and enjoy!
The Difference Between "Good" and "Great"
Over the past week, I've been fortunate enough to spend time with 2 very high level athletes. I spent a little over an hour training one of them, a college infielder looking to be drafted in this upcoming MLB draft, and sat down for coffee with the other, a professional triathlete looking to break into the top-tier ranks of the sport. I'm incredibly lucky to have both of these opportunities, and they turned out to be two very eye-opening experiences... ______________________________________________________________________________________________________
Oftentimes, when you think about professional and higher-level college athletes, you put them up on this pedestal. You may view them as heroes or individuals who you may have absolutely nothing in common with and who wouldn't waste their time on a conversation with you, but this really isn't the case. In reality, they are very normal people, just like you and me. They enjoy good movies, they have relationship issues, they absolutely despise the smell and taste of mustard (maybe that's just me).
You'd be surprised how much in common you may have with your favorite athlete, but, the fact of the matter is, these people reside in the upper echelons of their profession. They are the best of the best. They're professionals in every sense of the word. What got them there? Were they lucky? Did they know somebody important? Were they bitten by a radioactive spider? The answer is actually quite simple...
These people are DRIVEN. They live and breathe their profession, and understand that they have no room to slack off if they want to achieve their goals. They refuse to let others get in their way, and they truly believe in themselves. This drive is what fuels them, and it's what motivates them to take that next step, allowing them to inch closer and closer to success.
During his training session, I asked the baseball player what's changed for him over the past year. What has he done differently this year than any year before it, and how has that led to the success he's had this season? Mind you, he is currently leading the nation in triples. He's playing at an extremely high level and has been generating a ton of interest from MLB scouts. His answer had nothing to do with improving his bat speed. It didn't involve keeping his eye on the ball a little longer, or generating a more powerful first step. His answer: meditation.
Before each game, this kid puts on his headphone and sunglasses, turns up "Lord of the Rings Radio" and falls into this relaxed, meditative state while his trainer stretches him out. He doesn't think about the opposing pitcher. He doesn't analyze his week of practice, or the last game he played. He literally relaxes every part of his being, including his mind, and, in his words, "goes to sleep." Afterwards, he "wakes up" prepared to play just another baseball game. It's this focus, this passion, and this dedication to self-preparation that has allowed him to have his best collegiate season thus far.
There are so many high level athletes out there that will never make it to the big leagues. They're too jacked up in the head, over-analyzing every situation and getting in their own way. At the elite level in sports, athletic abilities are almost identical. Sure, some people are slightly stronger, some are a little bit quicker, and some have greater raw power. However, at the end of the day, it all comes down to what's between your ears. You can have all the athletic ability in the world, but everyone messes up at some point. What really makes you great is how well you rebound from that mistake. Are you the type of player that absolutely dominates in practice, but then goes and makes an error during the first play of competition and absolutely falls apart?
Now, I'm a strength and conditioning coach. I relate everything to athletics and sports performance, but this lesson applies to EVERY SINGLE PERSON ON PLANET EARTH. Whether or not you're a computer engineer, a recruiter, or a sales executive, you have the ability to get in your own way when that bad day comes your way. But guess what? You also have the ability to reach deep down, grab your proverbial sack, and keep on chuggin'. All you need is that drive, that passion, and that unwavering focus that is going to push you to the next level. No one gets anywhere in life by having a defeatist, "boo-hoo," "woe is me" attitude.
Youhave what it takes to succeed. You just need to accept it, harness it, and use it to push through the hard times. Be the person you've always wanted to be, even if you don't know exactly who that is yet. Chances are it includes the following attributes: hardworking, friendly, dedicated, passionate, exciting, innovative, useful, successful, compassionate, creative, inspirational and self-reliant. Everyone fails in life, but the best learn from that failure and use it to improve themselves and prepare for their next set of challenges.
See you next time.
The Lateral Lunge
https://youtu.be/GqpL0jDXHiM Today I had the opportunity to go into the gym and reconnect with some of my favorite exercises of the past with one of them being the goblet lateral lunge. Too often in modern times gym goers and athletes alike have restricted themselves to movements in a strictly forward or backwards pattern.
https://youtu.be/IpO6TaLBg5E
One of my favorite attributes with the lateral lunge is that like the goblet squat the placement of the weight puts athletes in a counterbalanced position that can allow them to perform the exercise safely and confidently. During the exercise if an athlete feels as though he or she is about to fall backwards they can simply move the weighted implement away from their body to regain their balance.
https://youtu.be/OMMX4F8zxdU
This exercise also does a tremendous job of helping the overall development of the stability of the knee joint and improving the dynamic flexibility of the adductor muscle group responsible for moving and stabilizing the leg and pelvis.
Key Points:
- Try to maintain an upright torso throughout the movement
- Allow your leading knee to stay in line with your toes
Training With A Chronic Illness
I had another awesome opportunity to write a guest post for Dean Somerset's blog. If you haven't yet read his stuff, you should do yourself a favor and start today. He is extremely intelligent and posts useful and so-that's-why-that-happens type stuff.
If you have a chronic illness or recovered from a long-term injury, I hear ya.
Most of fitness literature out there focuses on on training methods to get stronger, bigger, leaner, healthier, etc.,– which is exactly what you’d expect an industry called “fitness” to talk about.
There is, however, a small-ish (or perhaps not- so- small) portion of the population that has some form of chronic illness. Training for us is, well, different.
My aim with this post is to provide encouragement and practical strategies to anyone out there who is either battling a chronic illness, or may be dealing with a long-term healing process from a prior injury. Continue reading...
How The Powerlifts and Sport(s) Go Together Like Peanut Butter and Jelly
Few things combine so fantastically as peanut butter and jelly. Oreos and milk.
Spaghetti and meatballs.
Jedis and lightsabers.
Powerlifts and sports are up there in the hall of fame. But Kelsey, whatever do you mean?
I had the opportunity to wax poetically over at my friend Tony Gentilcore's blog today. Continue reading HERE.
