Don’t be misled by the title warm ups are a key factor in any athletic or general fitness programme.

However that said a lot of people turn up to their session for PT or with their coach and get the bog standard, Go warm up on the treadmill for ten minutes” or “run five laps” each time they have a session.

Warm ups are a key factor in any programme as is a cool down, and should always be conducted despite time restraints. Do not neglect your warm up as it is probably as important as the outcome of your session.

Warm ups can take a few forms but general consensus is that they should be:

Task specific

Prepare the body for the upcoming workload

Prepare you psychologically

Increase the heart rate and blood flow.

So does the light treadmill warm up or cycle warm up fit into the basic criteria? The simple answer is no.

Your warm up should be about the following:

SMR- Foam Rolling (self myofascial release)

Activation – dynamic movement

ROM- range of motion

Using a ball, stick or roller activates the myofascial muscle fibres allowing feedback of tightened areas and possible problems arising in the muscles.

The dynamic activation further prepares the body by stimulating the CNS increasing, blood flow, and heart rate to name a few.

The dynamic activation leads into increased range of motion in the muscle groups preparing the body for the workload.

By conducting a detailed warm up using the method described above we start a sequence of events within the body, which allows us to:

Prepare the muscles

Prevent injury

Increase blood flow

Promote muscle plyobility

Increase muscle flexibility

Sample warm up

Foam rolling full body inclusive of vertical and X Sagittal rolling of the muscles.

1a rotational half squats

1b monster band walks

1c ninja band walks

1d walking lunges with rotation

2a diagonal wood chopper (mb) left

2b diagonal wood chopper (mb) right

2c wood chopper (mb)

2d round the world (mb)

3a glute picks

3b ankle picks

3c can opener

3d bent over windmill rotation

Repeat the above warm up twice more, do not include the foam rolling in the subsequent sets.

Each time you conduct the warm up apart from the foam rolling which should always be executed first, start at a different point in the routine, this ensures the body is always adapting to new stimulus thus helping promote the muscles to activate.