When you’re really busy and pressed for time, it can be difficult to find time for your workouts.
If you’re feeling rushed to finish your workout, it can be tempting to skip your warm up.
This often results in poor performance, increased recovery time and it unnecessarily increases your risk for injury.
If you don’t have time to warm up properly, you really don’t have time for an injury.
You don’t need a super complicated 20 minute routine.
We’re huge advocates of the 6 Phase Dynamic Warm Up as taught by Dr. John Rusin in his Pain Free Perfomance course.
The goal is to keep it simple, check all the boxes and complete your warm up in less than 10 minutes.
This post will walk you through how to warm up before exercise.
Phase 1: Targeted Soft Tissue Work
Nobody wants to spend 30 minutes on a foam roller…we get it.
The goal here is to locate any trigger points you may have and perform 1 to 2 minutes of targeted work on these areas.
Focusing on areas such as your upper / mid back, quadriceps, hip flexors or chest can help release the parking break on those tight tissues.
You don’t need to run your entire body over the foam roller for it to be effective.
We teach a “Pin & Move” technique where you place the foam roller on your hot spot or trigger point, and then move the muscle through a full range of motion.
If your workout has you pressing, focus your soft tissue work on your chest or back.
If you’re squatting, focus on your quadriceps or hip flexors.
Phase 2: Bi-Phasic Positional Stretching
Don’t let the fancy worded description fool you…this is relatively simple.
This is a dynamic warm up so we’re not going to be passively holding end range stretches for long periods of time.
Our goal here is to put the body into stabilized starting positions (such as half-kneeling) and create internal tension throughout the body to facilitate stability.
Then you’ll add small oscillation (back and forth) movements to stretch the targeted tissues before holding the end range for 10 to 15 seconds.
In the video below, you’ll see Dr. John Rusin with a demo for the quadruped position.
Another option here is the half-kneeling position.
Phase 3: Corrective Exercise
The fitness industry has exploded with the number of corrective exercises available which can make this confusing.
The goal here is to focus on key movements and address any weak links in our system that could lead to movement dysfunction or pain.
If your profession has you sitting for extended periods of time, back pain can be an issue.
For the majority of people, the McGill Big 3 as shown below is the perfect selection here.
Another option would be the Side-Lying Thoracic Spine Rotation with Arm Reach.
It sound complicated but isn’t and it does wonders for opening up your upper body.
Phase 4: Muscle and Pattern Activation
To this point in the warm up, we’ve focused on opening up a movement pattern or muscles into improved ranges of motion.
Once new ranges of motion are achieved, it’s important to be able to stabilize at this position (to avoid injury).
This is where we want to emphasize the mind-muscle connection and generate the tension necessary to “activate” and feel the muscles contract.
Once again, we’re not looking to make things complicated and prefer a Banded Tri Set (shown below) for the upper body and a glute bridge for the lower body.
Phase 5: Priming the Foundational Movement Pattern
Let the foundational movement pattern featured in your workout be your guide here.
It’s universally known that Monday is International Chest Day so the push-up would fit here.
If it’s a squat day, incorporate a bodyweight squat.
The goal here is to “grease the groove” of the movement pattern so you’re ready for your workout.
Perform 2 to 3 sets of 3 to 5 slow and controlled reps. Time spent here will pay dividends in your training!
Phase 6: Central Nervous System Stimulation
Now it’s time to wrap things up with some velocity-based movements to stimulate your Central Nervous System.
Just like we did in Phase 5, you’ll want to match the exercises selected here with the movement pattern within your workout. Focus on being explosive with these movements.
For your lower body, squat jumps, broad jumps high knees or brief sprints are effective.
For your upper body, medicine ball throws or slams are our preferred options.
Total body options are jumping jacks, seal jacks or rotational medicine ball throws.
We’re not looking for a lot of work here because we don’t want to negatively impact our workout.
Limit yourself to 2 to 3 sets of 3 to 5 reps without exceeding 15 reps total.
Now it’s time to get after your workout!
