Home Posts tagged "warm-up"

Quick and Easy Ways to Feel and Move Better: Installment 14

Here's this week's list of quick tips you can put into action to improve your strength and conditioning and nutrition programs, courtesy of CP coach Greg Robins.  This week, Greg focuses on improving your warm-ups.

1. Integrate new movements into your warm-up first.

A solid warm-up should do a few things for you; in a nutshell, it needs to prepare the body for the task at hand. At Cressey Performance, we do this via soft tissue work, mobility drills, and various low level activation exercises. Essentially, we are working on our weak points (from a movement standpoint), so that we can solidify these new ranges with our strength training. Therefore, the warm up itself is a great spot to work on any new movements we want to externally load down the road. As a believer in training efficiency, I would rather see more time spent loading what can be safely loaded, and not spending as much time in the "meat" of the training session working new movements. If you have movement patterns that need practice, do a few sets in the warm up. As an example, CP coach Chris Howard is currently working the steps of the Turkish get-up as part of his warm-up routine before he loads it up. Other options include: frontal plane exercises such as lateral lunge variations, squat variations, and lunge or split squat variations.

2. Put a time limit on you warm-up.

A thorough warm-up includes a lot, and each piece is important. That being said, it doesn't (nor should it need to) take more than 15 minutes. As I said before, the warm-up needs to prepare you for the task at hand, and that task includes crushing your training session. In order to make that happen, you want to leave the warm up area sweating, fired up, and ready to train. Too often, I see people allow the warm-up process to morph into a 30-minute affair. Not surprisingly, these are the same people who comment on the tediousness of the process, and the fact that their training sessions seem like two-hour affairs. Focus on what needs to get done, and get it done. Scrap the small talk, and get to work! I can properly do all my self massage and 10-12 warm up exercises in 15 minutes, and so can you. When I finish my shirt is damp, my adrenaline is pumping, and I am ready to do work. You need to do the same. Next time you get into the gym, set a timer and condense your 30-minute marathon of a warm-up into 15 minutes. The difference in training quality will be immediately noticeable, and your distaste for warming up will be a thing of the past.

3. "Floss" your joints during self-massage.

I picked this tip up awhile back from strength coach and physical therapist Kelly Starrett. It has made a huge difference in how my elbows, knees, and shoulders feel after warming up. When rolling out you will often find "knots" or areas that are noticeably more tender than others. Stop on these regions, keep constant pressure on the area, and take the nearest joint through some active ranges of motion while the implement used for massage is still applying pressure. I have found this to be especially helpful with a lacrosse ball placed just above the knee, just above the elbow, and under the shoulder. Other options include simply flexing and extending the knees, elbows, and shoulders while rolling across the IT bands / quadriceps (knee), upper and mid back (shoulders), and upper arms (elbows). Here are a few examples:

4. Mimic the day's big exercise with a lower load variation first.

As a powerlifter, my training sessions always begin with one of the tested lifts: squat, bench, or deadlift. While this may not be the case for the general population or athletes, more times than not they are still beginning with a big compound movement. Instead of diving right in to the lift at hand, consider doing a few light sets of a similar movement that will help ingrain proper technique and give you additional time to orient the body to the day’s main movement pattern. I have found the goblet squat to be a great way to set up for successful squatting. Band resisted good mornings or KB swings are good for the deadlift. Finally, something as easy as a few sets of pushups can help with the bench press.

Each of these options will help raise your core temperature, fire up the CNS, and give you some sensory feed back on how the lift should feel (or will feel) on the given day.

5. Consider using MCTs for pre workout nutrition.

I'll finish this warm-up edition with a suggestion on how to warm up your body from the inside out. Many people tend to fuel their body pre-workout with various supplements (mostly full of garbage), or with carbohydrate-rich concotions. Instead, consider using a healthy source of fat: Medium Chain Triglycerides (MCTs). The benefits are numerous, and especially advantageous for those looking to increase fat oxidation during the workout. This study, published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, showed that consumption of MCTs as part of a weight loss plan improved overall weight loss. After ingestion of MCTs, the free fatty acid levels are raised, and more available to be used as energy. Supplementing with MCTs pre workout is therefore a terrific option for those on low carbohydrate diets looking for pre-workout energy and increased fat loss. You can get your MCTs in via coconut oil, MCT oil supplements, or even quality coconut milk products. Add in a small amount of BCAAs or whey protein, and caffeine for a boost that will keep you fueled up while aiding you in staying lean.

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Accelerated Muscular Development: Life Lessons from “The Hangover”

Today, we have a guest blog from Jim Smith, CSCS, the author of Accelerated Muscular Development 2.0. I wish I knew then what I know now.

This is one of life’s most cruel jokes.  With age comes wisdom (hopefully) and reflection.  I often think about going back and changing certain things that happened in my past and how the outcome would have been so different. I never would have stolen that cop car… I never would have married a stripper… I never would have pulled out my own tooth with a pair of pliers… You know, stuff like that.

When you’re drunk and are hopped up on GHB, you do crazy things.  Things that you want to take back; if you could just remember them. You can’t change the past, you can just move forward, continue to educate yourself and not make the same mistakes again. Training is the same way.  I’m sure if you look back at the stuff “you used to do” in the weight room you’d probably laugh.  And that is a good thing.  You had to start there to get to where you are now.  Progression and working to always be better is the key to success. I’m no different.  I’ve made many mistakes in the weight room not only with my training but the programs of my athletes.  I’ve done things that worked and some things that didn’t work.  But I kept learning.  I kept going to seminars.  I kept corresponding with other coaches in the industry.  And I got better and learned a few things along the way.  Here are a few of those innovations that I know will help you reach your goals in the gym. Flow is the New Warm-up Gone are the days of just hitting a few arm crosses and jumping jacks before your workout.  Other staples like bodyweight squats and lunges, while very effective, aren’t really time efficient.  Also, do they hit every articulation of the lower body for a complete prep? Imagine this flow: bodyweight squat => lunge forward right leg => fall into glute stretch push back to lunge on the right leg => back to bodyweight squat Repeat on left leg Or how about this: inchworm => push-up => push-up plus => inchworm back - Repeat Now you’re getting the idea.  Fast, efficient and encompassing as many movements as possible. Stiffie or Softie? When I say stiffie or softie, are you thinking about that Jimmy Johnson commercial for ED?  I am!  Man his hair is so cool.

We both should be thinking about some of the “tools” we use in the gym.  Some tools or implements just aren’t the best choices for certain individuals when performing certain exercises. Let’s talk about broomsticks.  How do we use them?  Two immediate examples are broomstick dislocates and broomstick wall squats.  Both are great movements to open up the shoulders, chest and upper back as well as the wall squats drilling good squat form.  But is the broomstick really the best tool for the job? When we are talking about individual differences, limitations and mobility, no, it is not.  I want you to think about replacing the broomstick with an elastic band.

The elastic band is perfect because it adjusts; it stretches and relaxes according to the individuals limitations.  It does NOT force the lifter or athlete into a movement pattern.  As the lifter hits a limitation the band stretches and allows the movement to continue while dynamically stretching the limitation.  Overhead wall squats with elastic bands are great too for all the same reasons.   You’ve probably abandoned dislocates because of how bad they feel with a broomstick.  Try out these new variations and you’ll feel the difference. Learn from my mistakes and continue to evolve with your training.  This will ensure you continue to progress and bring efficiency into your workouts.  No one wants to spend hours and hours in the gym.  But when you are in the gym, you need to most bang for your buck and these new variations will help. Innovations and versatility like this are what make my new product, Accelerated Muscular Development 2.0, a complete training system.  Unlike most programs, it doesn’t just provide 12 weeks of workouts and leave it at that.  In addition to giving you two 12 week programs, I also show you how to create your own programs moving forward – which puts you in a position to innovate for yourself and build your own programs.

Years and years of trial and error have led to the creation of the AMD 2.0 program template.  It breaks the workout down into its essential components (most programs are missing these pieces) so that each section has its own priority and its own focus.  From there, it is very simple.  In fact, once you see the template and apply it to your first workout, you will never forget it.  It is so easy.  And like I said, I have been training for many years and have done a lot of things wrong.  I really feel like AMD 2.0 is the next step because anyone can apply the template to whatever program they are on.   So as you progress and finish the AMD workouts, you can repeat them or use the template with any program you want to try. The AMD 2.0 template incorporates soft-tissue work, dynamic warm-ups, the primary workouts, core training and finally a rehab component.  If you have purchased other programs, you’ll probably have noticed that you received the primary workouts ONLY.  Unfortunately, this isn’t the right way to train.  You must prepare your body to workout.  Coming into the gym from the car after a long day and not warming up will always have a negative impact on your ability to move, train to your potential and remain injury free over the long term.  There is a definite flow to a good workout and if you know how to do it, you can actually cut your workout time down significantly.  We are going for high impact and short duration workouts.  No one wants to spend 4-5 days a week in the gym with 2 hour workouts.  With AMD you’ll have 3 training sessions a week lasting 45min to 1hr.  Get in the gym, kill it and get out. For more information – and a big introductory discount (this week only) with lots of bonuses – check out Accelerated Muscular Development 2.0.
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