Warming Up For a Strength Training Work-Out
A good option when warming up for a strength routine is to simply warm-up with your
first exercise. For example, if it’s squat day, I have people immediately go to the squat
rack and start squatting. This is specific preparation for the task at hand. The proper
muscles are activated (i.e. warmed) and the proper motor units are fired. Maximal
strength is a product of number of Type II muscle fibers and the capacity of your nervous
system to activate them. These are the most sensitive of all of your fibers and as you
know they are referred to as "high threshold". Treat these fibers wrong and they'll
definitely cause you to lose strength. The following is a list of mistakes you want to avoid
and tips for warming up for strength training.
Mistake #1: High Rep Warm Ups- High reps (10 and above) will cause your body to
release lactic acid into the blood stream which significantly impairs the nervous system's
ability to activate high threshold (think strength) motor units. Keep the reps in your warm
up sets at six or below (see examples below).
Mistake #2: Low Set Warm Ups- Knock out 10 reps with the bar, 10 reps with plates on
each side, and hit it…right? Wrong! Let your nervous system know what's coming slowly
and gradually. Don’t make your body hear the alarm clock and immediately jump out of
bed and start lifting! The closer you are working to your one rep max during your
working sets, the more warm-up sets you need. I recommend between 2-4 warm up sets
on your first exercise of each session. Each one of these sets should be performed with
progressively heavier weight, but never excessively fatiguing yourself for your main sets.
After the initial exercise you may need at most 1 warm-up set just to orchestrate the
movement.
Mistake #3: Stretching- Although static stretching of the muscle you’re going to be
training during a strength-training session can hinder strength, there is a certain way of
static stretching prior to a workout that can actually increase your strength. All you have
to do is stretch the antagonist (opposite) to the muscle you are going to use. For example,
if you’re doing a heavy bench press go ahead and stretch the antagonistic muscle, the lats,
by hanging in a chin-up position! Squatting heavy? Stretch the hip flexors by getting into
a deep lunge position and holding it. You will find that this can temporarily make you
stronger by relaxing the hip flexors, which act as antagonists when you jump.
Another thing you can do is, during your specific warm-up, perform reps where you hold
the bottom position of a movement. This will help improve active flexibility. “Sink
down” and hold the bottom position up to 10 seconds per rep. If you have trouble
squatting properly due to flexibility issues you might do 2-3 sets of 5-8 reps with a 5
second hold at the bottom of a squat. Go down a little bit further on each repetition. Do
the same thing on lunges or any other movements that don’t feel quite right. This really
helps improve specific flexibility and is in fact the only flexibility training that Olympic
lifters do and they’re as flexible as gymnasts!
Mistake #4: General Warm Ups- The nervous system picks up patterns, and running on
the treadmill, or pedal pushing for 5-10min to "get the blood flowing" or whatever
rationale you use does nothing to prepare the C.N.S. for a highly specific task like
benching, squatting, rows or any other exercise for that matter (other than running or
biking). So do your body a favor and don't waste your energy on something that isn't
going to help your body complete the task at hand. If you're going to squat, warm up by
squatting, stay away from the treadmill.
hamstrings doen echt extreem pijn. khoop dat het geen spierscheur is. onvoldoende opgewarmd volgens de eigenaar van de fitness. kheb 10 min zitten fietsen alvorens mijn benen te beginne trainen. direct begonnen met squatten. khad beter moeten weten
dus vroeg ik het nog eens opnieuw..
