Today I’m going to talk about a warm-up.  Until I made my last workout program (about 3 months ago), I had just thrown together a random group of movements and some warm-up sets before my main life.  Last workout program, I followed a warm-up from a program and it took me about 20 minutes to complete.  At I got to the end of the program, I found myself saying “ugh I don’t want to do this stupid warm-up.” That’s when I decided to research it and make it purposeful instead of wasting my time.  I’m going to share with you the evidence I found and how I took that evidence and put it into a plan for myself and my limitations. Warm-ups are highly variable so this is not meant to tell you what you should do for your warm-up, rather what to consider and how to structure a warm-up based on your limitations. 
     Let’s start with the physiologic response to a warm-up. Bishop lists a number of effects of a warm-up and breaks them into temperature related and non-temperature related effects. The temperature related effects include decreased resistance of muscles and joints (smoother movements and contractions), greater release of oxygen from hemoglobin and myoglobin, speeding of metabolic reactions, increased nerve conduction rate, increased thermoregulatory strain. Non-temperature related effects include increased heart rate and blood flow to muscles, capillary dilation, elevation of baseline oxygen consumption, postactivation potentiation, positive psychological effects, and increased preparedness. Bishop also discusses that with inactivity actin and myosin bonds form and increase thus increasing muscle stiffness.  Simply taking your muscles through the full range of motion helps to break those bonds and reduce passive stiffness. 
     Now that we’ve covered some of the body’s responses, what are the benefits to a warm-up? Injury reduction, increased physical preparedness, and improved performance have all been touted as benefits to a warm-up.  A number of systematic reviews have found that warm-ups significantly reduce the risk of injury. Numerous warm-up protocols including the FIFA 11+, the PEP, and the KIPP have all proven reduction of injury rates with implementation. McCrary noted that higher load dynamic warm-ups significantly affect strength and power outcomes. Similarly, Abad noticed that use of a general and specific warm-up improved 1RM by an average of 8% (the study was completed on the leg press for standardization purposes, but clearly performance was improved). 
     So what does all this mean and how do you use it to make your own warm-up? An appropriate warm-up should have three phases: a general phase, body part specific phase (this was the best name I could come up with), and a movement specific phase. The general phase should be comprised of movements that are getting you ready for the body part specific phase, can include light cardio (5 min), and should also include 2-3 drills for your top limitations. The body part specific phase is basically a general warm-up for the gross area you will be training that day (i.e. if it is bench or overhead press day, arm circles and chest PNF patterns would be in the body part specific phase). Those movements are general in light of the bench press movement, but are more specific than doing an elliptical with your arms on the moving handles. Last, but certainly not least, are the movement specific components. Here Quinn Henoch of Juggernaut Training Systems says it perfectly, “think in patterns, not individual muscles…You aren’t just stretching your lat; you are increasing the capacity of your lateral chest wall to expand when you take a breath in, so that you can support that weight over your head without arching your low back.  You aren’t just stretching your hamstrings, you are gaining the ability to perform a proper hip hinge while deadlifting or have adequate stride length while sprinting.” This phase includes variations of the lift at lesser intensities to get you ready for your warm-up sets (i.e. heels elevated overhead air squats to groove the movement for your squat or KB front racked goblet squats to control lumbopelvic movement and maintain core tightness in the hole). Bishop notes that a warm-up completed at 40-60% of VO2 max for 5-10 minutes followed by 5 minutes of recovery will improve short term performance, and warm-ups completed at 60-70% VO2 max for 5-10 min followed by 3 minutes of recovery will improve intermediate and long term performance.  Here are my warm-ups for my bench, squat, and deadlift days. 

Squat

  • Quadruped rockbacks 2x10 (breathing drills to set the stage for everything else)
  • half kneeling adductor dips 2x10 B (hip mobility is one of my biggest limitations)
  • Ankle band MWM 5x10" (ankle dorsiflexion to help groove the knees forward pattern during the lift)
  • bird dogs 1x20 (lumbopelvic control)
  • dead bugs 1x20 (lumbopelvic control)
  • dynamic plank 2x10 (lumbopelvic control)
  •  1x10 in/out B (body part specific general activation of muscles through the full ROM)
  • side steps 2x10 (body part specific muscular preparation)
  • SL bridge 2x10 (body part specific muscular preparation)
  • clamshells 2x10 B (body part specific muscular preparation)
  • Heels elevated air squat 2x10 (movement specific to groove lifting mechanics)
  • KB goblet squat 2x10 (movement specific to groove lifting mechanics)
  • RFESS 2x10 B (movement specific to groove lifting mechanics)

Deadlift

  • Quadruped rockbacks 2x10 (breathing drills to set the stage for everything else)
  • half kneeling adductor dips 2x10 B (hip mobility is one of my biggest limitations)
  • Ankle band MWM 5x10" (ankle dorsiflexion to help groove the knees forward pattern during the lift)
  • bird dogs 1x20 (lumbopelvic control)
  • dead bugs 1x20 (lumbopelvic control)
  • dynamic plank 2x10 (lumbopelvic control)
  •  1x10 in/out B (body part specific general activation of muscles through the full ROM)
  • side steps 2x10 (body part specific muscular preparation)
  • SL bridge 2x10 (body part specific muscular preparation)
  • clamshells 2x10 B (body part specific muscular preparation)
  • SL RDLs 2x10 (movement specific to groove lifting mechanics)
  • Bent over straight arm pulldowns 2x10 (movement specific to groove lifting mechanics)
  • Band pull throughs 2x10 B (movement specific to groove lifting mechanics)

Bench

  • Quadruped rockbacks 2x10 (breathing drills to set the stage for everything else)
  • half kneeling adductor dips 2x10 B (hip mobility is one of my biggest limitations)
  • Ankle band MWM 5x10" (ankle dorsiflexion to help groove the knees forward pattern during the lift)
  • bird dogs 1x20 (lumbopelvic control)
  • dead bugs 1x20 (lumbopelvic control)
  • dynamic plank 2x10 (lumbopelvic control)
  • shoulder circles 10 x4 directions (body part specific general activation of muscles through the full ROM)
  • shoulder PNF 1x10 B (body part specific general activation of muscles through the full ROM)
  • rows 2x10 (body part specific muscular preparation)
  • face pulls 2x10 (body part specific muscular preparation)
  • Ts 2x10 (body part specific muscular preparation)
  • Is 2x10 (body part specific muscular preparation)
  • Ys 2x10 (body part specific muscular preparation)
  • 90-90 ER 2x10 (body part specific muscular preparation)
  • DL bridge with leg drive 2x10 B (movement specific to groove lifting mechanics- leg drive)
  • bottoms up KB floor press 2x10 (movement specific to groove lifting mechanics)

     You’ll notice that the general phase is exactly the same through all 3 warm-ups (quadruped rockbacks down to dynamic planks). You’ll also notice that the body part specific phase is the same for lower body lifts vs upper body lifts (in/outs down to clamshells is the same for DL/Squat days – same would apply to bench/OHP days). The only things that differ every training session are the movement specific phase as every lift has its own characteristics.  I hope this helps you develop a solid warm-up plan. Please ask any questions in the comments below!

References

Abad, C., Prado, M., Ugrinowitsch, C., Tricoli, V., & Barroso, R. (2011). Combination ofgeneral and specificwarm-ups improves leg-press one repetition maximum compared with specific warm-up in trained individuals. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 25(8), 2242-2245.

Bishop, D. (2003). Warm up I. Sports Medicine, 33(6), 439-454.

Bishop, D. (2003). Warm up II. Sports Medicine, 33(7), 483-498.

Fradkin, A., Gabbe, B., & Cameron, P. (2006). Does warming up prevent injury in sport? the evidence from randomised controlled trials? Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport, 9, 214-220.

Henoch, Q. 7 habits of highly effective movement prep. Retrieved 5/22, 2016, from http://www.jtsstrength.com/articles/2014/05/21/7-habits-highly-effective-movement-prep/

Herman, K., Barton, C., Malliaras, P., & Morrissey, D. (2012). The effectiveness of neuromuscular warm-up strategies, that require no additional equipment, for preventing lower limb injuries during sports participation: A systematic review. BMC Medicine, 10(75)

McCrary, M., Ackermann, B., & Halaki, M. (2015). A systematic review of the effects of upper body warm-up on performance and injury. British Journal of Sports Medicine, 49, 935-942.

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