Warm Up & Movement Prep

Warm Ups

At CFJ we believe that the warm up is a critical part of the training we do.  Not only to prevent injury, but also as a tool to improve an athlete’s performance, a diagnostic tool to help both athlete and coach identify movement deficiencies, and a time to implement corrective exercises that help improve movement patterns.  Possible warm up combinations are endless, but we like to use a basic template.

  • Do something monostructural to increase heart rate and body temperature, “Get Your Chili Hot.”
  • Include at least 1 movement that focuses on opening up and prepping the hips and lower body.
  • Include at least 1 movement that focuses on prepping the shoulder girdle.
  • Include at least 1 movement that is focused on trunk activation & stabilization.

You can arrange these movements in any combination you want, just be sure to spend 15 minutes or so and include at least one movement from each of the 4 categories listed above.  It is very effective to do a mono-structural movement first and then follow it up with 2-3 rounds of 3-4 exercises.  The closer the warm up movements mimic the movements and demands that the training is going to put on your body, the better your performance will be.  Listed below are some of our favorite movements for each of the four categories (note that most of these are active links to video demos of the movements).  We are not limited to only these movements, but they are very effective and give us a good place to start.

Mono-structural:

  • Run, Bike, Jump Rope, Prowler, Sled Drags, Row, Form Running Drills, etc.

Hip & Lower Body Prep:

Squat/Deadlift/Hip-Hinge

Lunge/Step-Up/Pistol

Shoulder Girdle Prep:

Vertical Push/Pull & Overhead

Horizontal Push/Pull

Trunk Activation/Stabilization:

Viribus A Communitate