A warm up is very important for everyone, including athletes and regular weekend warriors. It’s a simple concept that is way too often overlooked. Most people jog on the treadmill for 5-10min, break a sweat and think they are ready to go. I even remember a athlete of mine that thought sitting in the hot tub was considered a warm up???
A proper warm up can help increase your performance on the field and in the weight-room and could potentially help decrease risk of injury. At Fusion Performance Training we really believe in a strong warm up. Here is our template on how we break down a general warm up:
- Myofasial Release- Here we work on the soft tissue quality of the fascia to help release tension and increase range of motion. You can use the foam roller, lacrosse ball, “The stick”, and many other modalities to execute this.
- Static/Fasical Stretch- hold for around 5-10sec depending if the target muscles “releases”
- Mobility and Dynamic Flexibility: Here we are working on increasing the blood flow and opening up your joints/muscle.
- Muscle/CNS Activation- this mean to just “awaken” your muscles via body weight squats, reverse lunges, lateral resisted walks, etc… don’t go too hard it’s just to get the muscles fired up for whatever the demands of the day are.
Some Examples of Foam Rolling:
Calf/Hamstring:
IT Band/Quads/Adductor:
HIps/Back:
You’ll generally roll 5-10 times but it’ll be dependent on how tight you are, so feel it out.
Here is an example floor routine you can do pretty much anywhere:
Just like foam rolling, repetitions are dependent on how tight you are, in general I’d recommend 10-15 per exercise.
Afterwards you’ll do your muscle activation such as:
- Squats
- Lunges
- Reaches
- Resistance Band Walks
- Wall Slides
That’s pretty much it, play around with it and see what works for you. And remember to spend extra time on particularly tight areas.
Let us know how it went!