The Perfect Warm-up: Part I

For most people, a few minutes on the treadmill or a few reps of a lighter weight before hitting bench is enough of a warm-up to satisfy them. If you are looking to get the most out of your workout, a more comprehensive approach should be considered. A proper warm-up will prepare your body for the work it is about to do along with limiting the incidence of injury. It is necessary to lengthen, activate and strengthen certain parts of your body before training. A good warm-up will take anywhere from 10-25 minutes, depending on your goals and the type of training you are about to engage in. There are a few different things you are looking to accomplish when preparing you body to train:

1. Regeneration
2. Flexibility/ ROM
3. Mobility
4. Activation

Regeneration

Everyone that strength trains knows what its like to have muscle soreness and tightness. This first step of the warm-up is the often overlooked muscular regeneration. This is the portion that will set the foundation for the rest of the warm-up itself. Whenever you train you are actually breaking down muscle in your body. Micro-traumas occur in the tendon and muscle fibers which will heal over time with proper recovery. When the body heals itself, the tendons and muscles grow back stronger. Sometimes, when the muscle grows back, the fibers will grow back with tiny knots or trigger points along them. This will make the muscles feel tight and will cause some discomfort and limit the range of motion in that joint.

The problem is that if you just stretch the tight muscles you will not lengthen the entire muscle. The stretch will happen on the path of least resistance on either side of the trigger point. The solution: massage. So, you’re not a professional athlete or can’t afford a massage before every training session? Well, there’s another solution that’s just as good and will become your new favorite piece of equipment: the foam roller. Yeah, that Styrofoam log that’s probably collecting dust in the corner of the gym.

Self Myofascial Release techniques with the foam roller should be the first step in your daily routine. The foam roller is truly a great tool to massage the knots and sore spots from head to toe and allow for adequate muscle function for the training ahead. If you spend 3-5 minutes a day on the foam roller your muscle tightness and soreness will significantly decrease. Have a big deadlift or squat session the day before? Odds are your glutes and hamstrings are on fire today. Simply grab the foam roller, sit on it and massage from your butt to the back of your knees. You will come across some points that are really sore and painful… Good! This is the only time that I will tell you to work through the pain. Not like this guy:

No pain no gain huh? This guy needs some serious help with his form...

Yes, it may hurt for the moment but that is your sensory nervous system overloading the muscle with pain so that the trigger point will release and relax. You ever get those knots up and down your spine in between your shoulder blades? Lay flat on the foam roller and give yourself a big hug. Then roll side to side while stretching your back and massage. Sometimes you can’t get deep enough into the muscle, so you can use a tennis ball. No matter where your soreness is, there is a way to massage it out with the foam roller from shin splints to a sore chest. You can spend anywhere from 10 seconds to a minute on each spot depending on your soreness. And yes, spend longer time on the places that are most sore. Here’s a great video from Strength and Performance Coach Eric Cressey’s site on the foam roller series that he has his athletes perform before every session: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8caF1Keg2XU

If you train at home or your gym doesn’t have a foam roller you can use a piece or pvc pipe, a tennis ball, or you can buy your own. They are relatively inexpensive and you can buy one at http://www.performbetter.com/. Of course, I have one of my own because I’m a training nerd like that.

Come back soon for Part II of The Perfect Warm-up series: Flexibility and ROM

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In Strength and Health,
TJ