Get Primed: Our
Simple Guide to
Dynamic Warm-Ups
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primalhumanperformance.com Table of Contents Introduction: The Athletic Warm-­Up Part 1: The Times They Are A-­Changin’ Part 2: Why Bother to Warm-­Up? Part 3: The World of Dynamic Stretching Part 4: The Time Factor Part 5: The Warm-­Up Program primalhumanperformance.com Introduction: The Athletic Warm-­Up In our line of business in sports medicine and physical therapy, very few of our colleagues would argue against the use of a pre-­‐event activity preparation routine, more commonly known as a “warm-­‐up”. In fact, most would strongly advocate for the use of some form of a warm-­‐up series prior to athletic activity. There are, however, many who would dispute the effectiveness of the “typical”, outdated, and potentially harmful warm-­‐up routine of simply static stretching. In this special report, we’ll clear up some of the burning questions and puzzling mysteries surrounding this often confusing and contradictory element of athletic performance and break down the most essential components. Once you’ve finished reading this manual you’ll have a better understanding on how to set up your own athletic warm-­‐up and take your performance to the next level. primalhumanperformance.com What are people doing now? As can be readily seen as you stroll through any park, field or training centre, warm-­‐ups (e.g. pre-­‐run, pre-­‐race, pre-­‐game, pre-­‐ workout activity etc) are often done the same way they’ve always been done: for team sports you’ll see the all-­‐too-­‐common “jog” for 5-­‐10 minutes followed by the athletes in a circle copying the captain’s static stretching routine; for individual events such as tennis, you’ll likely see the same type of activity but with probably even less “warming-­‐up”! This more passive form of athletic warm-­‐up has been around for many generations, and unfortunately continues to be passed on from coaches, trainers, therapists and other supposed “experts” to players and athletes alike. Over time, and through repeated exposure, these have taken on misplaced significance and have unfortunately become the gold standard for getting ready to play, practice or perform. primalhumanperformance.com There is a better way As is sometimes the case with “common” sense, there is often a lack of rationale behind it, making it more common than wise. This holds true in the realm of sports and athletic performance. From peewee leagues to the professional ranks, the all-­‐important warm-­‐
up is often misunderstood, misused or non-­‐existent. Changing this simple aspect of the athletic preparation the right way can have a major impact on your performance, with very little time investment. In this special report, we’ll give you the information you need to create the most effective way to prime your body for your athletic event, so you can not only look better, but perform better. primalhumanperformance.com Part 1: The Times They Are A-­Changin’ What’s wrong with the old way? First off, the old way usually involves a lot of static stretching, which consists of elongating a muscle group to a point of tolerance and sustaining that position for a period of time without bouncing or forcing the muscle (Fox, Bowers & Foss, 1993). Taking a quick look through the scientific literature will show you a compelling (and ever increasing) body of evidence that demonstrates the negative aspects of static stretching on muscular force production, strength, endurance, sprint times, balance, reaction time and power output, when used as a pre-­‐
event warm-­‐up. In plain language it means that if you static stretch you may become weaker, have less endurance (yes, this even applies to you, the endurance athlete!), and get slower. And we all know that in terms of athletic performance, you don’t want to lose any of those. Who wants to be slower, weaker or less powerful? primalhumanperformance.com ***Geeky Science Break*** For those of you who want a bit more scientific insight into what might be the cause of these drops in performance, it’s hypothesized that these deficits occur due to one of two possible mechanisms. Or perhaps even both at the same time. The first mechanism is based on the compliance of the muscles themselves. This relates to the actual mechanical properties of muscle tissue. Essentially, in order for your contractile tissue (muscle) to produce optimal force, muscle-­‐tendon units have to possess a certain level of stiffness. It’s thought that prolonged static stretching causes increased length in the muscle-­‐tendon unit (MTU). When you warm-­‐up using longer duration static stretching, your MTU optimal length may be lost and the ability of your muscle tissue to form ideal cross-­‐bridges is changed on a cellular level. Basically, think of an elastic band that’s stretched out and won’t go back to its original length. You wouldn’t be able to snap that slack elastic band the way you would if it weren’t so stretched out! The second theory is based on the neuromuscular tissue change (depressing reflex activity), which may also cause reductions in muscle primalhumanperformance.com stiffness, muscle activation and maximal force production. Basically, static stretching causes changes in the nervous system, which then makes it harder for your muscles to work optimally. (Church et al., 2001, Cramer et al., 2004, and Evetovich et al., 2003) ***Geeky Science Break Over*** So now that running around the field and throwing in some static stretching is out of the question for all you athletes, what’s next? How do you get the warm-­‐up edge? How do you get your body primed for activity? primalhumanperformance.com Part 2: Why Bother to Warm-­Up? Before you can answer the “why bother?” question, you have to ask yourself: What are the goals of your athletic warm-­up? According to the late Dr. Mell Siff in his strength and conditioning masterpiece, “Supertraining”, the warm-­‐up is used to prepare “the body to the necessary work capacity” (pg161). This encompasses the multitude of sporting or athletic events that you can imagine, from lawn bowling to gymnastics to just going for a jog along your street. Each event may have its distinct requirements, but the principle goals of an athletic warm-­‐up remain constant: • Priming the nervous system • Decrease reaction time • Improving muscle contractility • Optimizing joint mobility • Enhance coordination • Increasing efficiency of the cardio-­respiratory systems primalhumanperformance.com But there’s more. The warm-­‐up also serves to prepare the athlete for the rigors of competition by: • Optimizing mental factors • Improving perception • Increasing concentration •
Facilitating emotional arousal A properly performed warm-­‐up gets your head in the game, and as an athlete, you know how important that is! Think about the above and ask yourself: “If I walk or jog for a few minutes and then follow that up with a few more minutes of static stretching, do I actually achieve any of those warm-­up goals?” In fact, you’ve done the opposite! You’ve decreased mechanical compliance and/or neural control. And if your warm-­‐up is slow enough, you’ve also decreased your mental focus and lost your edge! primalhumanperformance.com Have we convinced you yet? Is it time you gave up the slow jog and cut out your pre-­‐activity static stretching? If you’re ready to advance yourself to the next level, stick around for part 3. primalhumanperformance.com Part 3: The World of Dynamic Stretching Welcome to the world of dynamic stretching. In contrast to static stretching, dynamic stretching involves whole body movements (Mann & Jones, 1999) and incorporates active and rhythmic contractions of muscle groups through their functional range of motion (Yamaguchi & Ishii, 2005). So what exactly are dynamic stretches (also called dynamic warm-­‐ups)? In a broad sense, as described above, dynamic stretches are any active movements that take a muscle group through its functional range of motion. They can include multiple variations of marches, skips, hops, jumps, rotations, swings or combinations of the above. This differs from ballistic stretching, which is composed of repeated bounces at the end of a joint’s range of motion. Ballistic stretching should only be used under the careful supervision of a trained professional who can fully assess the risk-­‐to-­‐benefit ratio of using this more complicated and higher -­‐risk stretching method. Why should you use a dynamic warm-­‐up? What are the benefits? primalhumanperformance.com Dynamic stretching drills prime the body from a state of rest into a state of higher athletic arousal. In a very short period of time you can: • Elevate your core body temperature • Increase motor unit excitability • Improve kinesthesia (body awareness) • Improve active range of motion (Faigenbaum et al. 2005) Dynamic movements can also: • Increase circulation and blood flow to multiple areas of the body • Groove specific motor patterns related to the task at hand • Take very little time to complete • Be a whole lot of fun! primalhumanperformance.com Doesn’t that sound like what you’re looking for? The definite rise in popularity of this type of movement preparation is undeniable. Perhaps you’ve come across some form of dynamic warm-­‐
up being performed by your friends or colleagues or maybe you’re already using them in your own training programs. If you are, that puts you in a different class of training knowledge and application. That being said, proper execution of these movements is paramount in order to minimize injury risk and to truly enhance performance. Are you doing your dynamic warm-­‐ups correctly? And more importantly, are you priming your body to maximize your performance? primalhumanperformance.com Part 4: The Time Factor When dealing with athletic preparation, time is of the essence. And in most cases, there just isn’t enough time! Between juggling pre-­‐event coaching instructions, skill specific warm-­‐
ups and all the other preparation, there is a window of about 10-­‐20 minutes to get your body primed to perform, without fatiguing yourself. With a carefully crafted dynamic warm-­up, that’s all you need! In about 10-­‐15 minutes, using the right selection of movements, you can rev up your neuromuscular system and set the stage for optimal performance, all while minimizing injury risk to boot. The unique demands of your activity along with your individual physical qualities make it important to design dynamic warm-­‐up programs specifically tailored to enhance your strengths and address your weaknesses. So this wraps up the background information on dynamic flexibility as a replacement for the out-­‐dated and often misused jog-­‐around-­‐the-­‐field and then static stretch warm-­‐up. primalhumanperformance.com In the final part of this five part special report, I’ll introduce you to a selection of specific dynamic movements and give you some guidance on how to structure a proper warm-­‐up that lets you not only perform, but perform optimally… in as little as 10-­15 minutes! primalhumanperformance.com Part 5: The Warm-­Up Program The out-­‐dated typical warm up: • Walking or slow jogging • Static stretching • 10-­‐30 minutes or more (if any warm up is used at all!) The dynamic warm-­‐up should: • Consist of movement based stretching • Be specific to your strengths and weaknesses • Mimic upcoming activity (e.g. runners should use a variety of hip swings/lunges, baseball players should use throwing motions etc) • Be relatively quick (this is to prime the body, not tire it out!) • Be comfortable (should increase mental and physical arousal state) • Focus on the specific goals of your activity or sport The following is a sample progression of a dynamic, movement-­‐focused warm-­‐up for a running based activity such as soccer, rugby or basketball. Using these principles, you can modify the movements and create your own personalized dynamic warm-­‐up for almost any physical activity that has a fairly high lower body emphasis. primalhumanperformance.com The Program Clamshells: Purpose: Glute activation and priming. Set up: Lie on your side with your hips stacked one directly on top of the other and your ankles together. Execution: Keeping your ankles together, slowly lift your top knee away from the bottom knee, about 2-­‐4 inches. Make sure your hips don’t roll forward or backward during the movement. You should feel a tightening in the side of your buttock. Repeat for desired sets and reps on each side. Sets: 2 per side Reps: 8-­‐15 per side Common Errors: •
Hips rolling backward or forward (not stacked vertically). •
Lifting knees up too far apart. •
Ankles coming apart. •
Rushing the movement and not feeling the glutes and external rotators contract. primalhumanperformance.com Standing Hip Extensions: Purpose: Glute activation and priming. Set up: Stand up tall facing a wall or similar structure that will allow you to balance upright. Execution: Keeping your upright position, extend one leg back and out to the side about 45 degrees for a small distance. Don’t let your back arch beyond your neutral spine position. You should feel a tightening in the side of your buttock. Repeat for desired sets and reps on each side. Sets: 2 per side Reps: 8-­‐15 per side Common Errors: •
Arching through the back to get hip extension. •
Leg extending straight back instead of at an angle. •
Rushing the movement and not feeling the glutes and external rotators contract. primalhumanperformance.com Cat & Camel: Purpose: Spinal mobilization Set up: Start by kneeling on your hands and knees with your shoulders, elbows and wrists in line, and your hips and knees aligned as well. Make sure that you start with your natural arch in the low back and your head in neutral position. There should be an imaginary line from the top of your head to the tip of your tailbone, with very little deviation along that line. Execution: From the starting position described above, round your back up while dropping your head down. This is the Camel position (think humps). Do not push to end range of motion but go to where you feel comfortable. Pause briefly and then slowly lower your rounded back to the neutral position. Once you’re back at neutral, slowly arch your back the opposite direction as far as you can without pain and without going to the end range of motion. Lift your head up at the same time. This is the Cat position (think of a cat stretching in sunshine). Pause briefly and return to the starting neutral position. Repeat for desired sets and reps. Sets: 1-­‐2 Reps: 6-­‐10 Common Errors: •
Shoulders, elbows and wrists not aligned properly. •
Hips and knees not aligned properly. •
Rounding the back too far up and going to the end range of motion (too much Camel). •
Arching the back too far down and going to the end range of motion (too much Cat). •
Not moving the head in conjunction with the back. primalhumanperformance.com Lunges: primalhumanperformance.com Purpose: Lower body activation and priming. Execution: From standing, step forward into a lunge position while keeping your torso upright and your core tight. From this lunge position, drive the back leg forward and into the subsequent lunge position. Continue alternating legs as you move forward. For the backward variation step back with one of your legs while you keep your torso upright and your core tight. Push your body backward and continue with your lunges in this manner, always maintaining body control. For sideways variation, lunge to the side as you squat your hips down. The trailing leg should be fairly straight and in this variation, the torso may lean forward slightly as long as you keep your neutral spine. For lunges, there are a variety of lunge lengths and depths available. This is where you have to use your judgment and decided the appropriate depth or stride length for your body shape, type and fitness level. Make sure you track your knee over your big toe and keep your head and chest up. Sets: 2 per variation Reps: 8-­‐10 per side Common Errors: •
Torso leaning too far forward. •
Looking down instead of straight ahead. •
Lunge stride length too big. •
Lunge depth too low. •
Knees collapsing inward or not tracking over big toe. Lunge Variations: There are many variations of lunges possible and based on your specific athletic task, mix and match to get the closest representation of your event or sport. These can include twisting lunges, overhead lunges, lunges with reaches, multidirectional lunges and many others. Remember, lunges can be fairly tiring so always keep in mind the end goal of your warm-­‐
up when adding these into the mix. primalhumanperformance.com High Knees: Purpose: Lower body activation and priming. Execution: From standing, flex your right hip bringing the knee up as high as possible while keeping your torso upright and your core tight. At the same time, the left arm should be driven forward and up, until the upper arm comes to an approximately parallel position with the ground. The right arm should be extended backwards at approximately 45º from vertical. Repeat with the left knee coming up with the right arm. From here, you will jog forward using this high knee stride and quick, short steps. Sets: 2 per side Reps: 8-­‐10 per side Common Errors: •
Torso leaning forward excessively. •
Looking down instead of straight ahead. •
Not bringing knee up high enough. •
Not driving opposite arm up. •
Knees collapsing inward or not tracking over toes. primalhumanperformance.com Butt Kicks: Purpose: Lower body activation and priming. Execution: From a standing position with your hands placed palm out behind your buttocks, flex your right knee bringing your heel up and back towards your right hand. Make sure you keep your torso upright, your core tight and both thighs vertical. From here, you will take short steps forward, alternating right and left kicks. Sets: 2 per side Reps: 8-­‐10 per side Common Errors: •
Torso leaning forward excessively. •
Looking down instead of straight ahead. •
Not bringing heel up high enough. •
Knees collapsing inward or not tracking over toes. •
Thighs not perpendicular to the ground (hips should not flex) ABCs: Combine the high knees, knee extension, and butt kicks and you get what track athletes refer to as the ABCs. These movements mimic the complete running cycle and will definitely rev up your neuromuscular engine and prime your body for some serious performance. primalhumanperformance.com Forward Leg Swings: Purpose: Lower body activation and priming. Execution: Stand next to a wall, counter or similar sturdy structure. Use your hand closest to the wall for support. From this position, swing your leg closest to the wall forward under control, keeping your knee straight. At the top of the movement, actively pull your leg back to the starting position and then continue to extend back as far as you can at your hip joint. Make sure you keep your torso upright, your core tight, your pelvis in neutral, and avoid extending through the low back as your leg swings behind you. On each subsequent rep, try to increase the amplitude, or size of your swing. Complete all reps for a set on one leg, then alternate sides. Sets: 2 per side Reps: 10-­‐15 swings per side Common Errors: •
Torso leaning forward, with head looking down. •
Extending or flexing through the low back. •
Losing neutral pelvis. •
Knee bending excessively on forward and backward swing. •
Allowing gravity to do your work on the extension phase of the swing. primalhumanperformance.com Lateral Leg Swings: Purpose: Lower body activation and priming. Execution: Stand with your body facing a wall or similar structure. Place both of your hands on the wall for support. From this position, swing one of your legs out to the side, under control, and keeping your knee straight (abduct). At the top of the movement, actively pull your leg back to the starting position and then continue to swing your leg across your body in front of the other leg. Adduct as far as you can at your hip joint. Make sure you keep your torso upright, your core tight, pelvis in neutral, and avoid side flexing through your back. On each subsequent rep, try to increase the amplitude, or size of your swing. Complete all reps for a set on one leg, then alternate sides. Sets: 2 per side Reps: 10-­‐15 swings per side Common Errors: •
Torso leaning forward, with head looking down. •
Side flexing through the back. •
Losing neutral pelvis. •
Allowing gravity to do your work on the return or adduction phase of the swing. primalhumanperformance.com Hops, Bounds and Jumps: Purpose: Full body activation and priming, with lower body focus. Execution: From a standing position, hop, bound or jump forward, backwards or sideways. Land in the athletic triple threat position: Pelvis in neutral, knees slightly bent, hips flexed, and weight evenly distributed on your feet. From here, hop in the same format again. These can be done two-­‐
footed or one-­‐footed. These should be progressed from slower, shorter leaps to faster, bigger and more aggressive ones, as the body gets primed. Repeat for desired volume but do not tire yourself out. These dynamic movements can really tucker you out. Sets: 1-­‐2 per variation Reps: 8-­‐10 per variation Common Errors: •
Too much volume. •
Heavy landings. •
Losing neutral pelvis. primalhumanperformance.com Short sprints with progressive pace The final component of the athletic warm up is to shift the movements towards full game pace. In the case of the lower body focused sports such as soccer, basketball and rugby, this means sprinting. We would strongly advise against going for an all-­‐out sprint, or high intensity activity without any prior warm –up progressions. However, once your body has been put through the gamut as outlined above, it’s time to kick it into high gear. You want to keep the sprints short. Remember, you’re priming your body for your athletic event, not tiring it out. We usually recommend distances of about 20-­‐40 meters. This will allow you to gradually increase the intensity of the sprints until you’re at game speed by the final few. At the end of all this warming-­‐up, your body should be primed for your specific event. There you have it, a quick and dirty dynamic warm-­‐up that will rev up your internal engine and prime your body for optimal performance. primalhumanperformance.com