Warming Up: How to Do it Like an Elite Athlete, Part 2

Welcome back to the Ignite blog!  Today, I will be showing you part 2 of “How to Warmup like an Elite Athlete”. For a recap, check out part 1 of this blog post.

In part 2, we will be covering the dynamic warmup.  The dynamic warmup is is the final part of the warmup and should properly prepare the athlete (you in this case) to train for that session. The dynamic warmup is broken down into 2 parts:  Movement Prep, and Skipping/CNS Prep.  We’ll kick things off with the movement prep.

Movement Prep

The purpose of the movement prep is to prepare your body for some of the movements you will be doing in your training session.  The movement prepare can vary depending on what you’ll be doing that day, but this one is a great place to start.

Knee Hugs

Knee Hugs are designed to get as much hip, and knee flexion as possible.  Movements such as squatting and lunging require a great amount of both.

FOCUS:
– Pull knee up to chest as high as possible
– Flex toes up to the ceiling
-Stay tall
-Repeat for 10 yards

Hamtring Walks

Hamstring Walks are one of my favorite dynamic hamstring stretches.  Not only is this one a great hamstring stretch, but you will also feel a stretch in the calf as well.

FOCUS:
– Load Glutes
– Hige at Hips, keep back flat
-Toes flexed to the air
– Repeat for 10 yards

World’s Greatest Stretch

I dont know if this actually is the world’s greatest stretch, but it’s up there.   I love this stretch for so many reasons.  It activates and stretches out a large percentage of your muscle groups. But to me, the best benefit of this exercise is the t-spine rotation that you get while doing it.

FOCUS:
– Lunge down and put inside hand on the ground
– Rotate opposite arm to the sky
– Have your eyes follow your fingertips
– Repeat on the other side
– Repeat for 10 yards

RDL Walks

RDL Walks are a great exercise to eccentrically activate your hamstrings.  This exercise also forces you to balance, which activates all the little stabilize muscles in your foot, ankle, and calf.

FOCUS:
– Have knee slightly bent and back flat
– Keep hips flat and avoid rotation
– Squeeze Shoulders, and point thumbs up to sky.
– Repeat for 10 yards

Lateral Lunges

It’s important that when you warm up, you do so in multiple planes of motion.  Lateral lunges help accomplish that.  Lateral lunges help activate the gluteus, quads, and hams, as well as provide a nice stretch in the groin area.

FOCUS:
– Fully shift weight over to one side
– Keep toes forward
– Keep Chest up
– Repeat for 10 yards.

Inchworms

My clients have a love-hate relationship with this exercise.  They love the benefits, but hate how difficult it is.  This is one of the best exercises to stretch the posterior chain that you can do.  If you are doing upper body work that week, you can also do a push up as you walk your hands out for the next rep.

FOCUS:
– Walk forward with your hands on the ground until you are in a push up position.
– Slowly walk your feet up while trying to press your feels down
– Keep your back flat and walk the feet up as far as you can
– Repeat for 5-10 reps

Skipping /CNS Prep

This is the part of the warmup is probably the most foreign to people.  The term CNS, is short for the Central Nervous System.  When warming up, its not just about preparing your muscles and stretching, It’s about increasing your core body temperature, and getting your nervous system ready to kick ass.  This accomplishes that.

Karaokes / A-Skips

Karaokes: Whether you call them karaokes or grapevines, if you’ve ever played soccer or football, then no doubt you’ve done this exercise.  Karaoke’s emphasize hip mobility and coordination….Repeat for 10 yards.

A-Skips:  If you were to head to any high school track track practice, chances are you would see a line of athletes doing A-skips.  Even if you’re goal isn’t to improve sprinting speed, A-skips help increase your core body temperature and help your body become more elastic or “bouncy” for your workout…Repeat for 10 yards.

Power Skips/ Single Leg Line Hops

Power Skips:  Just as the name implies, this one is all about POWER.  You’re going to jump as high as you can on one leg and drive your opposite knee in the air….Repeat for 10 yards.

SL Line Hops: Exercise is one last little push to your nervous system.  You’ll find a line and hop over it on one leg as quickly as possible.  After this, you are finally ready for your workout….Repeat for 10 seconds on each leg.

There you have it.  While there are many ways and methods to warming up, the key is to find what works for you. This is is simply my version.  Consider your goals, and what your training session will be that day.  Your warmup may still be a work in progress, but at least know you’ll know where to start!