Workout of The Week 35
Effective Warm up Sequences
Every exercise science textbook talks about warming up but very few get beyond just stating that the intention of the warm up is to raise your body temperature to prepare the body for activity. A proper warm up should do far more than just raise your body temperature. There are 3 components to an effective warm up: tension, mobilization, and activation.
Tension
Mechanical tension is the force applied to muscle through resistance. The tension phase is going to require muscle contractions to fill the muscle belly with blood. This will begin increasing the temperature of the muscle which will improve its’ pliability. It will also begin to increase concentrations of hormones (catecholamines) and enzymes that will help to mobilize energy stores and produce energy.
The best exercise for this phase will primarily be short range single joint exercises. Things like banded bicep curls for the elbow joint or leg curls for the knees. It could also include body weight movements like push ups and body weight squats, just keep the weight light and repetitions relatively high to get sufficient blood flow through the working muscles.
Mobilization
Once the body is warm and the joints feel primed from the tension phase you can begin to mobilize the tissues. I recommend dynamic stretches or flows during this phase. Things like animal walks, dynamic stretches, functional range conditioning, kettlebell / barbell complexes, or general joint mobility drills will work best.
Activation
The body at this point is warm, juices are flowing, enzymes are enzyming, and your joints are greased (motion is lotion baby). It’s time to activate. Activation could be a couple things ranging from plyometrics to just barbell warmups. I typically begin lower body days with some form of jumps or bounds as my activation. Upper body days I may also do upper body plyometrics with body weight or medicine balls.
You could also opt to do speed work with the barbell. Start with the bar on whatever movement you’re beginning your workout with. Take at least 4-6 warmup sets to your first working set and take sets of 3 to 8 reps per set. Focus on accelerating the bar as fast as possible (compensatory acceleration training). Move violently. This part of the warmup is to prime your nervous system to recruit more motor units so you can move heavier weight.
Any warmup questions? Drop them below.