Warm-up Explanation
Written by: Coach Dex
As we grow as a coaching staff, so do the pieces we present to you. We’ve been diving deeper into specific muscle activation/movement prep pre-workout to help you get ready to perform at your highest level. As a result, we’re designing the specifics of our warm-ups a little differently.
Now, we’re designing our warmups purposefully to have each athlete perform the task of the day with their best effort not only physically, but mentally. We’ve always structured our warm-ups in 3 phases, but you may have noticed some subtle changes to those pieces. Here’s a closer look at each:
1) First Stage: Blood Pumping
Generally, some low skill movement mixed with cardio/time under tension to get the blood pumping enough to facilitate some kind of shaking off of “the crusty” feeling.
Example:
1min max cal row
2min dead bug hold
– or –
3 Rounds
100m run
10 lunge jumps
5 burpee broad jumps
2) Second Stage: Mobilize/Activate
We Mobilize/Activate major muscle groups (scaps, glutes, core) for movement prep. In CrossFit, we obviously move through different planes of motion, with different muscle contractions and joint actions, so here is where we can see and assess everyone, as well as give you some introspective feedback on where you’re limited, personally. It’s a huge tool for making sure we/you scale appropriately for the range of motions/patterns coming for the day. The goal here is to make sure we all have a good idea of what the prerequisite range of motion in each position is, what is not safe to continue with if need be, and what the mechanical needs of the day are going to be: squat, press, hinge, etc…
Example:
We go through some sort of overhead range of motion test/stretch and Coach notices Jimmy can’t really get to what would be considered a “safe range of motion” with his arms overhead to perform a snatch. We activate the scaps, so he would scale appropriately and know specifically what he can do to mobilize and claim a better range of motion for that movement.
3) Third Stage: Chili Cooker
In step 3, we’ll look to progress through the movements for the day. Again, arming Coaches and athletes alike with knowledge for the day, as far as scaling and loading is concerned. We can make this a short AMRAP, a certain number of rounds, or just big numbers of a movement to facilitate a little burn to stimulate the nervous system to be prepared to fire for whatever is being asked of it that day.
Example: (Assuming today’s WOD is “Fran”)
Round 1: 10 kip swings + 10 push press + 10 front squats w/empty barbell
Round 2: 8 kip swings w/lat press + 5 thrusters w/pause in the bottom of the squat
Round 3: 5 pull ups + 5 thrusters @ working weight
The goal of these warm-ups is to help you go full steam ahead into your workout with a good picture of what is expected, where you are in progression, and to develop healthier/stronger movement patterns.