5 Overlooked Things all Warm-ups Should Contain

Ahhh, the elusive warm-up.  Everywhere you go there is someone who has the “best” warm-up around.  While I’ve seen some really good warm-ups out there, I doubt there really is a “perfect warm-up.”  Like most things in rehab and fitness a warm-up should be catered around the individual, their specific needs, goals and what the workout is going to contain.

It’s pretty common knowledge that a warm-up should contain 4 basic things:

• Increase the heart rate and respiratory rate
• Increase body temperature
• Take your joints through a full range of motion
• Contain exercises specific to the workout to be performed

All of this is fantastic stuff.  As a therapist I feel the warm-up is a fantastic time to work on several other aspects that are important from a therapy point of view.   These are:

1. Mobility Drills Specific to Your Own Limitations

Everyone is an individual and each person is going to present with a different limitation.  Some people have a poor snatch technique that is attributed to one stiff ankle while another person might have poor shoulder mobility.

Finding out where your limitations are is a vital part of progressing safely with your exercise program and also becoming more efficient with the movements you wish to master.  I’ve posted way too much assessment information through my site which you can find some of HERE.  This part of the warm-up should come first and I’ll usually recommend spending 5-10 minutes working these issues before starting the main warm-up (Or warming up with the rest of the box).

2. Squat, Deadlift and Overhead Mobility / Range of Motion

Mastering the squat, deadlift (and bar path during cleans and snatches) and overhead press is …read more

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