Lifting
Are you hopping into your workouts all willy nilly, cruising through your lift, and peacin’ out without a post workout stretch? I get that you want to get in and get out, but making time for both a pre-workout warm up and a post-workout cool down could take your training, preparation, and recovery to the next level. Let’s get into the benefits of warming up, what to include in your warm up exercises, benefits of cooling down, and what cool down stretches to perform.
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Have you been known to skip your lifting warm up? I get it, you want to get to your heavy lifts RIGHT NOW. That’s where the action is, right? Well, I hate to break it to you but I would argue that your warm up is the most important part of your workout routine. Your warm up prepares you and your body for the hard work it’s about to endure.
I recommend taking 3-7 minutes to warm up. It doesn’t need to be super lengthy or all encompassing, but it does need to prep your body and central nervous system (CNS).
Benefits of warming up include:
- Increasing blood flow
- Decreasing risk of injury
- Increasing mobility
- Improving performance
- Enhancing mind to muscle connection, which impacts stability and coordination
When choosing your warm up exercises, I recommend considering these four components:
1. Sticky areas
What I mean by sticky areas are the muscles and joints that tend to give you more trouble than others. Maybe you injured your knee back in college and it hasn’t been the same since. Maybe you sprained the same ankle more than a couple times and it tends to be a bit more unstable than the other. Maybe you sit for most of the day due to the nature of your job. Day to day circumstances and prior injuries can contribute to what I like to call “sticky areas”. I recommend performing 1-2 dynamic stretches specific to your body to help mitigate this.
Examples:
Cat Cow - for your spine. (Spines are meant to move!)
1. Get onto all fours with your shoulders over wrists and hips over knees.
2. Curve your back toward the ceiling to create space between your shoulder blades. Exhale here.
3. Curve your back with your belly toward the ground. Inhale here.
4. Repeat for reps.
Side Lying T-Spine Openers - for your mid-back (bodies are meant to rotate!)
1. Lie on your side with your feet stacked, knees bent, and arms straight out in front of you.
2. Rotate at your mid-back or thoracic spine to open the chest and reach behind you with one arm. Try your best to keep your knees together and down.
90/90 Mobility - for your hips
1. Create a 90-degree angle with each leg. One leg will be in front of you, and the other one over to the side.
2. Shift your legs between internal and external rotation for reps.
3. Use support from your hands as needed to help keep your back flat as you alternate sides.
2. Movement Prep
Movement prep is exactly what it sounds like: movements that prepare you for the lifts you are doing that day. Depending on what your main lift or compound lift is that day, you will want to mimic that exercise or engage the main muscle group that will be used.
Examples:
- If you plan on doing a Barbell Back Squat, something like a Mini Band Squat or Squat Walk Down would be an appropriate exercise to slate as part of your movement prep.
How to do a Mini Band Squat:
1. Loop the resistance band at your mid-shin.
2. Stand with your feet hip- to shoulder-width apart with toes slightly angled out.
3. Squat down by bending at your knees and sitting into your glutes.
4. Keep your knees in line with your second and third toes.
5. Press up through your glutes and quads to stand.
6. Keep equal pressure through your feet.
How to do a Squat Walk Down:
1. Stand in a squat position with feet between shoulder- and hip-width apart.
2. Hold onto the squat rack for support as you lower into a squat and walk your hands down the rack.
3. Sit into your hips to get into a full range of motion squat before standing up.
- If you plan on doing a Barbell Bent Over Row, something like a Resistance Band Row would be a great option for movement prep.
How to do a Resistance Band Row:
1. Loop the resistance band around a post or squat rack at mid-section height.
2. Grab each of the handles with palms facing each other.
3. Stand with your feet about shoulder-width apart, facing the anchored band.
4. Drive your elbows back next to your sides using your lats and biceps.
5. Bring the handles back to their starting position in a controlled manner.
3. Plyometrics and Power
By including plyometrics and power exercises in your warm up, this can increase your blood flow, increase your power output, and improve your performance. Bonus benefits: plyometrics aren’t just for elite athletes. In fact, most people can benefit from jumping as it is excellent for injury prevention and improving longevity.
Examples:
1. Lower down into a squat by bending at the knees, sitting back into your glutes, and keeping knees in line with your second and third toes.
2. Explosively press up through your glutes and quads to jump up.
3. Repeat this motion for reps.
1. Place an appropriate sized box out in front of you. You can start with 1-3 plates stacked on top of each other or grab a sturdy box or bench.
2. Lower down into a partial squat.
3. Use the power from your legs to jump on top of the box.
4. Both of your feet should land on the box at the same time with both feet entirely on the box.
5. Step one foot down at a time to get off of the box.
1. Place your left foot on the step.
2. Sprinter-skip-up by driving the right knee up using your quad and hip flexors.
3. Repeat for reps.
1. Start with your feet directly underneath your hips.
2. Hop by pushing the balls of your feet into the ground and explosively hop up.
4. Blood Flow
Get the blood flowing for 3-5 minutes of cardio. This will help raise your body temperature and increase your heart rate to get you prepared for your workout. This can be done in any form of cardio that you prefer, such as rowing, ski erg, incline walking, biking, jogging, etc.
Although this may seem like a lot to get through, I suggest prioritizing 2-4 exercises and a little bit of cardio to get you prepared and ready for your workout. This should take 3-7 minutes in total. Then you can hop underneath the barbell and get to your gains! Again, your warm up is nearly the most important part of your work out. Don’t skip it!
Watch my YouTube video on How to Warm Up for Your Lifts and Runs.
As you can see, much of the warm up includes dynamic stretches and movements, which is quite the opposite of a cool down. In a cool down, you are focusing on bringing your heart rate back down to its normal state, letting the central nervous system (CNS) come back down, and focusing on slowing down after a tough workout. When you consider your warm up, think: dynamic stretches and mobility. When you consider your cool down, think: static stretches and flexibility. Let’s get into the cool down…
If there were a hierarchy of importance when it comes to your training, completing the warm up is number one, your workout or bulk of your lift is number two, and the cool down is number three. In my opinion, if you have to skip something because you are short on time, let it be the cool down. Why? Because you can multitask a stretch and another activity such as cooking, showering, taking a call, etc. Yes, I encourage you to make time for a cool down, but if something must go, let it be this. With that said, there are benefits to cooling down.
Benefits to cooling down include:
- recovering your heart rate
- improving flexibility
- improving relaxation and mindfulness
- bringing your central nervous system back down
- preventing blood pooling
When choosing your cool down exercises, it’s important that it reflects the muscles you worked. For example, if you just did a leg workout, you would likely focus on stretching muscles like your quadriceps, hamstrings, glutes/hips, and calves. If you just did an upper body workout, you would likely stretch your chest, lats, triceps, or rear delts. If you just did a full body workout, you may do a little bit of everything listed above.
To avoid cooling down for an excessive amount of time, think about completing 3-6 of the most relevant static stretches for about 20-30 seconds each. This duration will allow you to take a few deep breaths with each stretch to bring your heart rate down, calm your central nervous system, and give you a little boost of flexibility.
Here are 4 of my favorite cool down exercises:
Child's Pose - for your back, hips, and ankles
1. Kneel down and sit back into your hips and onto your heels.
2. Reach your arms out in front of you while lowering your chest toward the ground.
3. Take deep belly breaths.
4. If it feels good to do so, reach your arms over to the left for a couple breaths, then over to the right for a couple breaths.
Thoracic Spine Stretch - for your mid back
1. Lie flat on your back and bend both of your knees.
2. Let your knees fall to one side and open up your arms.
3. Try to keep your hips stacked.
4. Hold here.
5. Place a block or similar under your knee if needed.
Figure Four - for your hips
Option one:
1. Sit on a box or bench.
2. Cross one ankle at the opposite knee.
3. Lean forward with an upright torso and/or push the knee away to feel a stretch in your hip.
Option two:
1. Lie on your back.
2. Cross one ankle at the opposite knee.
3. Reach behind the knee of the free leg and pull the knee in toward the chest to feel a stretch in your hip.
Standing Quad Stretch - for your quads
1. Stand tall and grab at the ankle or foot of one leg.
2. Tuck your hip to ensure you get a quad stretch.
3. Be careful to not curve your lower back.
4. Hold here.
5. Use support as needed. This is not meant to be a stability exercise.
Additionally, a light 1-5 minute walk can feel like a nice way to round out the session. This could be outside, on a treadmill, or around the track. Watch my YouTube video to learn more about How to Cool Down for Your Lifts and Runs.
Completing your prescribed warm up and cool down can help you take your training and your training recovery to the next level. A proper warm up will set you up for success beyond the workout itself by keeping you spry and injury free. A well thought out cool down can help mitigate delayed-onset soreness (DOMS) and improve flexibility. If you’re wanting a well planned and programmed warm up and cool down, join one of our hybrid training programs. All of our programs include lifting warm ups, running or hiking warm ups, and a cool down to keep your movin’ and groovin’ all year long.
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