Many people overlook the importance of a good warm-up, but on the same note I have seen some people warm up for like 30 minutes before they do any work. There is no secret warm-up that is going to be the best or most effective. There are just certain things a warm-up needs to accomplish and you should really be able to get it done in about 10 minutes.
The CrossFit WarmUp Checklist:
- Warm-up (actually increase the temperature) of blood and muscles
- Prevent the workout “shock” by creating a light sweat and increasing the size of your blood vessels
Warm muscles perform better and faster in both the concentric and eccentric motion, as opposed to cold muscles. Giving you more power and strength while decreasing the chance of injury. By creating a light sweat it will prep your body to cool more quickly once the work begins and strain on the heart will be decreased by the ability of the blood to move more rapidly.
3 rounds of 10-15 reps of
- Samson Stretch (do the Samson Stretch once each round for 15-30 seconds)
- Overhead Squat with broomstick
- Sit-up
- Back-extension
- Pull-up
- Dip
Note that for a workout that’s dip or pullup-centric, you might want to do something else in the warmup.
Not a bad warm-up, but I don’t know anyone who actually does it.
Workout Specific Warm-up
You will definitely need to throw in some range of motion drills into your warmup. This is probably the best way to get things done. What does your workout involve today? Deadlifts? Squats? Shoulder Press? Running? Determining what you need to warm-up will help you get it to the 10 minute warm-up time frame.
Let’s use deadlifts as an example. If I saw that in a workout I would know that I need to loosen primarily the hips and the hamstrings. So I would focus on that, on top of normal stretching.
How Do I know What to Do?
I could list everything out as far as muscle group and motion, but someone with way more experience in that field has put together an amazing website that helps.
You could do the entire mobility WOD everyday (which is great for you). But I like to search the website for muscle group specific mobility stretches and then I normally just pick 1-2 movements out of the group. I have done it so many times now I pretty much know what to do for which muscles need the most work.
My warm up, what does and does not change:
- 2-3 minutes of jump rope to get warm
- Quick Stretch of (10-20 sec hold): Quad, Toe Touch, Glute, Lower Back, Shoulder, Arms, Back, Chest
- PVC Pass Throughs
- [WOD Specifc] Range of Motion Drills (the only thing that changes day to day)
PVC Pass Throughs and some other PVC quick stretches