There are many ways to warm up.
Many.
The “standard” for most going to gym, or exercise class or sports training is to run about a bit, swing the the arms, stretch the hamstrings and hip flexors, maybe foam roll a bit and then train.
Not great.
The other method is to spend about 20 minutes on a foam roller, do some really slow arm circles, sit in a 90-90 stretch for a while pulling faces and then training.
Not great either.
How about you have a look at these two warm up sets that we use commonly in our sessions here in Wg-Fit.
If you attend our Lunchtime or Evening fitness sessions, this is what you’ll be doing.
This first one a joint mobility sequence we have taught in more or less the same sequence for 10 years or more. It is demoed here at a fairly quick pace to warm up with, but every movemement is haighly recommended for your own routine daily mainatanance
This one is our current warm up, it also doubles as a a workout if it’s done for several rounds
There’s no magic here, both warm ups simply take your joints through full ranges, stretching and releasing muscles as they go.
By the completion of either of these sub 10 minute sessions you should feel loose and ready for whatever is next in your training. As weeks go by you should notice significant improvements in your ranges of motion, ie your mobility.
And that is no bad thing.
Warming up doesn’t have to be complicated.
It just has to be done.
Oh, and a last tip… Keep a fairly standardised format, even if you don’t follow my warm ups, take this on board. Standardising your warm up allows you to optimise the mental preparations though the NLP concept of action triggers. As you go through your ritual, you are getting mentally ready as much as physically, as you know that after this sequence, the work begins.
The Second reason to standardise it is that you get a “systems check” If you did this last week, and the week before that then you know how it should feel, you know the feedback to expect from your body, so you can recognise any deviations and work on them.
Now, get to it!
Regards
Dave Hedges www.WG-Fit.com
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