Offseason Training: Warm Up Manual Warm ups have the ability to greatly enhance an athlete s ability to perform in the workout. Although a problem exists where athletes take their warm ups too far, such as: Jogging or cycling for longer than necessary Excessive stretching + foam rolling Excessive dynamic movements that bring fatigue rather than get you warm The performance slump of tiring yourself out prior to training is pretty straight forward, but more often than not people do too long of a jog or run prior to training. If you do light cardio in excess of 5-10 minutes prior to weight training you are slowly but surely increasing the acidity in your skeletal muscle tissue. When you increase the acidity in your muscles, you create lactate at a faster rate. When you create lactate at a faster rate you will fatigue earlier on in a set then you would have had you been more alkaline. To paint a picture, if you and your buddy were of equal strength and were both doing sets of 12 on the bench press, if you had performed too much cardio prior to training, you would fatigue (based on your lactate levels) around the 6-8 mark as opposed to the 12 mark simply because you will receive the burning feeling from exercise far sooner.
Additionally, when it comes to stretching, pre-workout stretching will not increase performance, in fact, it may decrease your overall strength. Specifically, recent research has shown that passive stretching reduces neural drive in the Type ll motor units. This makes it very difficult for your body to work to its potential, especially when weight training. Flexibility programs, specifically static stretching, should be done on its own day. The object of a good warm up is to: Prepare your mind and body for the training session Get in the zone Wake up your nervous system Improve mobility Improve joint fluidity Increase core temperature Increase sympathetic activation of the heart Improve blood flow When your warm up design has these checked off, your preparation for the gym is very well rounded and complete. The proper accomplishment of this plus a good recovery plan has you training to the 100% of your capability each and every time you hit the gym. One of the most important components of any good warm up is the mental aspect. Knowing how much you are going to lift, how hard it
is going to be, knowing how heavy it is going to feel, gives you a huge edge going into the session. You have already been there in your mind, you already know how hard everything is going to be, and you just have to take your body through it. You talk to any professional athlete, bodybuilder or power lifter who has done damage in their sport and they will all tell you that performance is just as much mental as it is physical. Clearing your mind, forgetting the outside world and focusing on you and your lifts will drive success in the gym. When you visualize the type of workout that you want to have, you will have it. If you intensely visualize a crazy pump, lifting heavy and hitting a PR, you will be in such a more primed state to hit that PR in comparison to the man who is just there to exercise. Let s get this clear, we are not exercising, we are training. Exercise is simply burning calories with physical movement. Training is a periodized program design built with the purpose to hit your goals. Training demands you be mentally, spiritually and physically present while working out. If you re not, you re just exercising. The workout starts when you activate and engage your mind. With the Offseason training system, I want you to perform one type of warm up each and every session, and I m also going to offer you an additional warm-up strategy we are going to use for medicine ball power sessions.
GENERAL WARM UP 1. Crunches 3x10 2. Plank 3x20secs 3. Side plank 3x20secs per side 4. Neck circles, 8-10 in each direction 5. Large shoulder circles, 8-10 in each direction 6. Small shoulder circles, 8-10 in each direction 7. Hip circles, 8-10 in each direction 8. Body weight squats x 10-15 9. On all fours, donkey kicks x 10/leg 10. On all fours, fire hydrant leg circles x 10/leg In addition to this warm up, you should use 50% of the load you would use for your first two weight training exercises and perform 2 sets of 10 for each, minimum.
MEDICINE BALL WORKOUT WARM UPS When working with the medicine ball, increasing the range of motion in your hips, shoulders and lower back is very important to both decrease risk of injury and improve your throw power. Medicine ball throws create a tremendous power output by your body so it becomes that much more important to properly prepare. 1. Medicine ball halos x 10 2. Medicine ball straight arm raises x 10 3. Weighted supine glute bridges x 10 4. DB straight arm pull overs x 10 5. Medicine ball swings x 10 6. Medicine ball squats holding in front of your body x 10 7. Reverse lunges x 10 / leg
Conclusion A warm-up can provide benefits that will without a doubt enhance performance. Your warm up should be geared toward the particular activity you are engaging in, in this case, maximizing your offseason hockey training. During your warm-up, lighter load rehearsal sets are far more appropriate to maximizing your potential then various stretching techniques. Optimal flexibility will drive optimal range of motion. For athletes who need to increase flexibility, static and PNF stretching techniques will allow for an effective increase in range of motion, but should be performed on their own respective day. Last but not least, using your warm up to get in the zone has an immeasurable effect on your training productivity.