Performance Preparation - R.A.M.P
Time is valuable in the gym! The truth is…. you don’t need to spend 40 min foam rolling, stretching, trigger pointing and doing specific glute activation drill. A dynamic and comprehensive warm up can be complete in under 5 minute. It’s more valuable to use your time effective and optimally to train.
The aim of the warm-up is to prepare both mentally and physically for exercise or competition.21 Without the development of undue fatigue.
An important starting point in examining the optimal protocol of a warm up is to examine the rationale behind why we warm-up. A well designed warm-up can:
Increase muscle temperature
Core temperature, blood flow26, and
Disrupt transient connective tissue bonds.13
These effects can have the following positive effects on performance:
Faster muscle contraction and relaxation of both agonist and antagonist muscles.21
Improvements in rate of force development and reaction time.1
Improvements in muscle strength and power.5,13
Lowered viscous resistance in muscles.13
Improved oxygen delivery due to the Bohr effect where higher temperatures facilitate oxygen release from haemoglobin and myoglobin.26
Increased blood flow to active muscles.26
Enhanced metabolic reactions.13
Are you still doing static stretch in your warm up?
Static stretch has become ingrained in the psyche of athlete, coaches and personal trainers, with injury prevention and performance enhancement being given as justifications for its inclusion with this mantra repeated parrot fashion or ‘this is what your supposed to do’ and ‘we’ve always done this’. However, there is little, if any, evidence that stretching pre or post training prevents injury. Similarly, in terms of the performance enhancement elements, research suggests that rather than enhance subsequent performance, static stretching can compromise muscle performance.
