Today’s topic ties in with a recent post of mine, ‘Can You Run Safely?’ Part of staying injury-free during exercise is to ensure that your body is prepared for the forthcoming exertion. This preparatory phase is known as the warm-up.

Why I want to address this topic, is simply because the layperson doesn’t seem to have a good, consistent definition of a warm-up. While each individual will need various degrees of warm-up, it pays to stick with a couple of key principles, of which this article sets out to outline.

Note that everything I say here is directed towards the layperson. In other words, if you’re an athlete, then the following may not apply.

Why Warm Up?

Because if you do a proper warm up, you’re going to be able to both (a) keep yourself injury-free, and (b) be able to push harder during your workout, thereby getting more benefits from it.

The Many Views towards the warm-up

I’m sure you would have seen many views towards how one should warm up. For example, some people will tell you that stretching is absolutely necessary, and others will tell you that you shouldn’t stretch at all.

But remember why you’re warming up: To prepare your joints, muscles and connective tissues for whatever exercise you are about to perform.

Thus, the exercise you’re performing is going to determine how much you’re going to have to warm up. If you’re going to the gym, depending on whether you’re going to be lifting heavy weights, or partaking in some pilates classes, you’d need a different level of warm-up.

So the point here is: Ask yourself what exercise you’re about to perform, and then apply the general guidelines for that exercise. Now let’s get into those guidelines.

Type of Exercise

I’m going to split exercise simply into aerobic exercise, sports-specific exercise and strength-based exercise.

Aerobic exercise will be those such as long-distance running, cycling, swimming, etc. These exercises depend largely on the ability of the heart and muscles to sustain prolonged bouts of sub-maximal exertion.

Strength exercise will be those such as weights training, where the muscles are performing at high intensities but with (ideally) controlled form.

Sports-specific exercise will be everything else, from sprinting, to tennis, to soccer, to basketball. I separate this category because it involves some specific areas to note with regards to the specific sport. More on this in the specific section.

General Guidelines

So depending on the activity, you’d take different paths. The commonality between all of them is that you start with the most basic activity.

Aerobic Exercise

In general, one doesn’t need too much warm-up for aerobic activity. Oftentimes people can simply start light and then progressively ramp up the intensity until they reach their work level. So if you intend to do a 8 mph run on the treadmill for 30 minutes, you should start by walking at perhaps 3 mph, slowly scaling up over a period of 5-10 minutes, before going for 30 minutes. One could then reverse the procedure at the end of the workout.

For the type of aerobic activity that most people do, I’d see little need to go beyond that. While some stretching before the workout doesn’t hurt, it doesn’t seem to help too much either. The qualifier here is that stretching may be necessary if muscle flexibility or joint prevents one from doing to the activity. This is not likely the case for running, but may very well be true for weights training.

Sports-Specific Exercise

Everything from doing hill sprints, to playing tennis falls under this category. Since the nature of such activity is (usually) unpredictable, and it is performed at higher intensities, more warm-up is needed.

In general we should split the warm-up into 2 simple phases:

1. A general warm-up
2. A sports specific warm-up

While athletes can get into all the specifics, let’s keep it simple. In this case, a general warm-up would be exactly like described above for aerobic exercise. As a guideline, one should start by performing some brief cardiovascular activity until you break a light sweat.

Following which, some dynamic stretching can take place. For a great demonstration of a dynamic stretching routine, take a look at some Catalyst athletics videos.

Admittedly, that may not be necessary for the recreational exerciser. Often, some light, sports specific activity will suffice. That means hitting some easy serves, throwing a few light pitches or doing some easy passes.

Here, I would like to highlight though, that in some cases, some static stretching is warranted. For example, someone should stretch out his/her tight shoulders before hitting that big tennis serve. If you have to stretch to ensure that your joints can go through the necessary range of motion, then do so.

Strength-Based exercise

The primary form of activity that falls under this category would be weights training, and arguably this is where many people get the warm-up completely wrong. Part of the reason why there are more weights-training-related injuries is simply because people simply don’t invest the time to neither warm-up properly or learn the exercises properly.

Today, we just want to talk about the former. First off, I would like to say that Lyle McDonald provided an excellent 2 part series on warming up (link to part 1 and part 2). I’d encourage you to really read and digest that info, but I will provide some guidelines here to start people off.

Here is a simple 3 phase warmup:

First, the general warm-up follows just like before: Do some form of cardio until you break a light sweat.

Second, some form of dynamic stretching is performed. This is demonstrated in this video.

Third, progressive ramping up of sets to the work sets. This means that if you’re going to be bench pressing 100kg, start with the bar (20kg). The typically progression would be:

20kg x 10-20 reps
50kg x 5
70kg x 3
80kg x 2
90kg x 1
100kg x 1

Since there aren’t many 100kg bench pressers out there, here’s a guideline for someone who will eventually intends to do 3 work sets of 50kg x 6 reps.

20kg x 5-10
30kg x 3
40kg x 2
50kg x 1

It may be a little bit of a stretch, but my policy has always been to ensure safety in performing weights training. Following the above guideline should not tire you out, but instead grease movement patterns and prime the joints, muscles and nervous system for the performance ahead.

As you can see, the heavier you are working, the more warmup you’re going to need. If in doubt, stick to a little more warm-up with low reps (1-2 reps).

Overlapping body parts may need less warm-up. An example would be Chin-Ups and Rows. Still, NEVER jump into an exercise without such a warm-up.

Final Words

Don’t forget that these are guidelines. I would say that most people can feel when they are warmed up when it comes to aerobic and sports activity. In those cases, depending on your age and training background, you can simply follow the guidelines until you feel like you’re ready to go.

For weights training however, I will highly recommend that you follow the guidelines. Skimping on warm-up in the weights room is one of the more dangerous things you can do.

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At the time of this writing, one of the more common advertisements on the inside banners of Melbourne City Trams is an ad trying to get people to go for sexual health checkups. Most of them feature an almost naked male model and a tagline. Most of the time, this tagline reminds one of the negative consequences of sexually-transmitted diseases, and the benefits of early detection via going for a sexual health checkup.

I don’t have the statistics to back up my claims, but judging from the feedback from some people I know, most people are ambivalent towards these ads. Basically, I don’t think they are very effective, and I think I know why.

In their book “The Time Paradox”, Phil Zimbardo and John Boyd talked about the present-hedonistic time perspective. What that means is that people who have that mindset value pleasure in the present over the potential consequences in the future.

Drinking excessively without care for that inevitable hangover, smoking, eating excessively, and engaging in unsafe sex are all motivated by the higher value placed upon pleasure now as compared to the possible consequences later.

Now we can see the problem with those ads, they are appealing to aversion of negative future consequences to people who don’t care about future consequences.

When was the last time an advertisement got you all excited about the new handbag that’s coming 12 months from now? The answer is, only if you care deeply about handbags. The next question is, when was the last time an advertisement about handbags make you care deeply about them? (assuming that you don’t already care deeply about handbags)

Instead of preaching to cows, these ads should sell people something they want. If they can’t do that, then don’t bother wasting the money and manpower needed to run such a campaign [1]. If they wanted to talk about the future, at least talk about the near future. Something along the lines of, “Check out of the doctor’s today, check into the bedroom tomorrow.” (check ups allow for constant sex)

—

Notes:
[1] My conspiracy theory is that the government is only running these ads to satisfy the insecurities of the conservative public.

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This is a short post, because its only about one thing that everybody should be asking themselves during their workout.

And the question is: “Is it safe?”

Is the next rep going to be safe? Can I sustain another 5 mins at this pace? What does hitting my PRs today mean in the long run?

The 1 extra rep will bring you 0.01% closer to your goal. Screwing it up can take you 30% (or more) away from it.

But if you stack all those 0.01%s, you will get very far. So my point is, constantly question yourself regarding your limits. Know how far you can push. You must be able to do this so constantly that if you think that you needed to abandon a set/ stop the workout, you’d do it in a heartbeat. The converse is true if you think that you can push it.

Lastly, no shame. You may look ridiculous giving yourself the red card to halt your set, but at least you won’t be injured.

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As a beginning trainee, regardless of your age, goals and background, the smartest thing that one can do is to adopt good practices from the start. Very often, this is not the case. I attribute this mainly to the fact that adverse reactions from training are not seen until years later. For example, the High School Coach can do whatever he/she wants to the athletes, and they are unlikely to experience problems at all.

What I argue in my previous article about accumulation, is that this is a wrong mindset to adopt. Instead, we should try to get things right from the start. This article does not contain many explicit precautionary measures. First, because it would be boring. Second, because it would be too much information to contain. But most importantly, it takes away value from the intended outcome.

What I intend to do, is to make you decide to think of training in this way. Once you have decided that you want to train with a specific purpose and a specific set of principles, I’d be rest assured that you will take all the necessary precautions. It’s something like sex; we just need to hint at it, you’ll figure out the details on your own.

Still, I will provide some links at the end of this article. Now, let’s get into the fundamental principles of training.

All your training must be geared towards 2 things and two things only.

1. Progression
2. Safety

To lay out a specific plan we need to take into account 2 important things

• You are Not Different
• The Human Body is Complicated

What the first point means (and Lyle McDonald explained it exceedingly well in his article of the same name), is that though there is a certain range of phenotypes among humans, they tend to fall into that range pretty predictably. One person may have a little lower baseline metabolic rate, but that may only fall into a +- 10% range. This means that the methods one uses will be predictable, because the experience of different human beings in training (for whatever goal) will be somewhat similar.

This brings us to the second point, which implies that many things happen in the human body that defy our common logic. It’s probably because of the way we do research (looking at particular indexes for example) and more likely because the fluctuations of the systems of the human body leave us with confounding experiences.

One example is the phenomenon whereby a dieter sees no weight loss and still looks puffy for 2-3 weeks, then suddenly drops 4 lbs in the span of 2 days, looking a lot leaner at the same time. Obviously, it was water retention at work. Why it works this way is basically unknown: we just know it happens.

Thus the best solution is to look to other people pursuing similar goals and draw from their own experiences. It also serves one well to accept that the body is the temperamental bitch that it is; we’d be a lot happier that way.

With that in mind we can go on to the right mindset, which comprises 3 aspects:

1. Drive towards clear goals in the best way possible
2. Appreciate the role of Accumulation and Start with sound Practices Right from the Start
3. Be Willing to Experiment with Yourself

I will touch on each, but I felt that the last point was so important that I would tackle it with a completely different article, with only a brief description over here.

Clear Goals

I have talked about this once in the article “Dietary Self-Sabotage“, within the context of that article. It deserves to be repeated here in this context.

In essence, when you train, train for a reason. Fundamentally, this is to train to get better at doing something.

However, I would like to add something to the content of the previous post. Despite having clear, quantifiable goals, the vision of where you will be once you achieve that goal does not, as is often not specific.

The preferred future vision should be something that can be called upon to be uplifting and invigorating. It should be like a shot of adrenaline straight up your spine. It should also be a quick concise reminder of where you want to get to and why you are working hard.

Examples of such visions in the fitness context may be to stand out in a gym, or to impress your peers. It may be to become the best basketball player in your collegiate division, or perhaps even make it as a pro. It may even be as simple as to be able to walk to the supermarket pain-free.

No one else has the right to judge you for your vision. If it is to impress the opposite sex, make sure you believe it. The onus is not on others to say “why not?”, it is on you to say “why?”. Thus, the vision is not judged based upon its content, nor is it based upon its context. This is applicable to the 15 year pubescent male just as much as it applies to the 70 year old grandmother who has just undergone hip replacement surgery. It is thus judged only upon its resultant effect on the individual.

I repeat: you should strive towards a vision of where you want to be. Let this be your motivator

Then we can go about setting the specific goals. These simply facilitate the progress towards your preferred future vision. They tell you that you’re on the right track.

I say this since some goals are more easily quantifiable than others. Losing fat is a quantifiable goal, whereas walking without pain is not so. We will simply have to deal with the inherent ambiguities in life, and always measure what we can.

Either way, if you are aligned towards your vision, you will find a way to achieve it regardless of the circumstances or the methods to get there.

Do Things Right From the Start

In their youth, many people can get away with sub-optimal or unsafe practices.

Such can be seen with numerous examples. When you’re young, perhaps you can afford to eat more and sleep less. You can deal with work stress better. Healthy eating may leave no noticeable impact, as with unhealthy eating.

People may be able to jump straight into playing sports without a warmup, and experience no side effects for years. Similarly with weights training, we ay be able to get away with non-balanced approaches to training.

The key here is to appreciate the role of accumulation, and recognise that doing things right from the start has two distinct and significant benefits.

First, the risk of a negative result is greatly diminished. Although we may be able to play sports without a proper warmup, the potential for injury is always greater. To some unfortunate people, their bodies may simply give way prematurely, be it anything from sprains and tears and even joint dislocations.

There are some areas where the list of good practices may be ambiguous. For example, in terms of diet, there seems to be favourable evidence pointing towards an omnivorous diet with adequate animal proteins along with lots of fruit and vegetables. There is no evidence though of saying that veganism is superior over vegetarianism, or other diets (especially those popularised by the media). Even the occasional fast food meal doesn’t get treated much different in the short term in terms of the body’s hormonal response. Diet is one of those areas whereby we know roughly what is right, but cannot really tweak it beyond some vague recommendations and macronutritional parameters.

Then there are some areas where the list of good practices are very evident. Practices such as adequate warmups during exercise should be practiced right from the start. Other examples include flexibility, joint mobility, soft tissue work, core stability training, balance in strength between both sides of the body, proper exercise technique, proper exercise programming, and many more. If you have not heard of many of the above, I have provided a list of links in the footnote of this article, so check it out. In essence, to do things right from the start reduces your risk of negative consequences.

The second benefit then follows that we establish habits that will last a lifetime.

The most useful way of thinking about this is to imagine what it would be like to implement solutions only when the problems become obvious. Losing weight after a lifetime of eating fast food is definitely going to be much harder mentally. As is with trying to train with proper technique after sustaining an injury. Old habits need to be unlearned and replaced with new habits. At best, it will be tedious and difficult, for example trying to apply a daily stretching routine to a sedentary office worker. At worst, past bad habits may have buried you in a hole too deep to climb out, for example getting a heart attack due to clogged arteries at age 80.

Be Willing to Experiment

I will reserve much of this point for the actual blog post and hence will now only highlight the main points to get things started.

The first key is to recognise that every single person has a different background, different tolerances and different genetics.

That’s just a way of saying that what may have worked for somebody may not work for you.

Instead, we should experiment. Firstly, we gain a greater understanding of our body, and secondly, we can then apply this to greatly improve our future progress.

In the context of health and fitness, there are many, many variables at work which affect the end result. It is basically impossible to correlate minute changes to the overall gains that we make.

It is hence vital that we experiment broadly and pick out what helps us the most.

I will talk much more about this in the post to come, but let’s leave it there for now. For now, I hope that the above has laid out some ideas for your continual success in your endeavours.

*****

Links to some great articles:

• Smart from the Start – Eric Cressey
• Neanderthal No More Series – Mike Robertson and Eric Cressey (linked to part 5 since it gives the rest of the links) on posture and how to fix it
• Soft Tissue Work @ Stronglifts.com – follow the links in the article to some great content, especially the one on using a tennis ball for soft tissue work
• Starting Strength Wiki - For Young Beginner Trainees interested in moving big weights
• Squats vs Leg Press for Big Legs - Lyle McDonald. Addresses the concerns of machines over free weights
• How to Construct Your Own Workout Routine – Long but informative
• Weightrainer.com articles – More Technical, but worth it if you’re into the stuff. Most notably the articles on dietary fats, muscle growth, and Maximum Muscular Potential
• Shoulder Savers Part 1, Part 2 – Eric Cressey
• Westside for Skinny Bastards (Read all three, should give some ideas for training) – Joe Defranco lays out a general program for gym goers
• Warming up For the Weights Room, Part 1, Part 2 – Lyle McDonald. Absolutely essential for any trainee.
• The Pregnant Athelete – Lisa Druxman, one last one for the moms out there

This list is non-exhaustible, but I hope it gives you some links to get started. Note that this is intended largely for younger trainees, particularly, those in decent health. This is certainly not for older folks or those with severe medical conditions. In those cases, a professional hand is always the best option.

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Just a fun post.

Went shopping, and decided to pick up some hair gel. I saw the homebrand hair gel, cost – $1.09. I didn’t buy that, thinking that I wasn’t that cheap. So I bought the one you see in the picture, for $3.99. Not the most expensive one there (I really wonder why people buy $7 hair gel), but 4 times the price of the cheapest one.

Next, I decided I wanted a drink. I saw regular diet coke at $2.00 for 1.25L. Instead I bought the homebrand diet cola for 80 cents.

Now I’m a little more sane (I never am), so I sit down to ponder on my decisions. I knew one thing for sure: the people packaging and advertising the product got me.

Come to think of it, I bought the more expensive hair gel simply because I would be ‘stuck with it’ for quite a while (probably 3 months), but not so for the cola (i finished it in 2 days). In a case, I was inconvenienced by the time I had to keep the product.

So now I’ve invented a new accounting method: I base my buying decisions on how long I have to keep something. At the same time, I decided to purposefully inconvenience myself. In a strange way, this prevented impulses to buy certain items, like takeaway coffee in little cup-containers.

So just a random thought: Maybe we can purposefully inconvenience ourselves to make better food decisions.

Put the chips in a high place, tuck the candies deep in the cupboard, whatever. (parents do try this with your children).

Anyway, just a thought…..

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Image Credit: mandj98. Even Animals are Affected by Sitting around too much

Firstly, I am going to refer to this article by JC of JCDfitness: Improve Your Life by Improving Your Posture

Additional Resource: Soft Tissue E-manual

To sum up the article, a young and athletic 22 year old managed to get Lower Cross Syndrome simply because he was sitting around too much. What do you think would happen to older folks?

The problem is that we can do an intense workout for 1 hour, but we sit around for 8 hours after that, what do you think the effects would be?

One of my favourite quotes from a fitness insturctor is, “I was my client’s coach for 1 hour a day. They were their own coach for the other 23.”

Essentially, those 23 hours made or broke the progress of his clients.

The point I am trying to drive home is simple: Remember that what we do directly affects us. And that which we spend more time on affects us more.

If you eat healthy sometimes, don’t expect to be healthy. The same logic is true, that if you eat unhealthy only sometimes, you can still be healthy.

Specifically on this issue, I think that anyone can make a change to their habits that will help them greatly.

This is discussed in the last part of the article, and simply means moving around more. Clarence Bass talked about this in his article, ‘Miracle of Movement’. Basically, whenever you have the chance to get and move around, do it.

Use reminders, make a hybrid sit-stand workstation (put the laptop on the desk and put your notes on a high shelf so you have to stand to get them). Get an ergonomically designed chair. Take breaks every hour to stand and strectch. Use an alrm clock to remind yourself about this!

For many people (especially cubicle workers), sitting for 4 hours straight isn’t uncommon. By introducing a simple habit of standing up every say 20 minutes, the benefits reaped are enourmous. Of course, you won’t thank yourself until 10 years later.

For those you are futher interested, I have linked an Additional Resource, a reference manual for Self Myofascial Release Therapy. This is basically a type of treatment directly to muscles and ligaments employed to increase range of motion, relax the muscle, etc. It is often employed to athletes, but anyone can benefit from this.

I am experimenting with such techniques, using only a cheap $1 tennis ball, so stay tuned for future updates.

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