Warm up 101
A good warm up is key to getting the most out of your body during each and every training session. How long and how hard you warm up for will vary depending on the length and intensity of the workout, but learning the basics and adapting them to each individual workout is what I hope to teach you about today.
At a minimum, a warm up Routine should accomplish three things:
Increase tissue temperature and circulation of whatever muscle groups you are targeting
Act as a gauge to assess how your body feels that day
Prepare your muscles, bones, and tendons for the load you are about to place on them
First we will address timing. How long you warm up for is highly variable because it depends on the demand of the workout before you. For longer, endurance-style workouts, the first few miles, (or roughly 8-10 minutes if you are not looking at distance,) should be enough to acclimate your body to the pace or heart rate you are aiming for. These types of workouts do not demand huge amounts of intensity, so a simple warmup is typically sufficient. Speed and/or power intervals require much more recruitment from the body so your warm up should last long enough to adequately prepare your musculoskeletal and cardiovascular systems for the work ahead. This can last anywhere from 10-20 minutes, with the understanding that the shorter and more intense the workout is, the longer and more detailed your warmup should be.
Second, and probably the most important reason for warming up, is tissue preparation. To get the most out of your warmup, you should be including specific intervals that will challenge the cardiovascular and musculoskeletal systems at the intensities you plan on targeting during your workout. Again, this is dependent on what type of training you are doing that day. If your training has you swimming at 70% of your threshold, this should not demand too much of your body systems and a short, general warm up will be enough to get you going. Conversely, if you are completing intervals at or above threshold, your warmup should include specific intervals that are right below or at your goal pace/wattage/heart rate for the upcoming intervals. When I am writing workouts for my athletes, I refer to this part of the warmup as the “pre-load” stage. I also keep these pre-loading intervals to 50% of the total time for the actual work interval prescribed. An example would be threshold intervals on the bike. If I want my athlete targeting 110% of their threshold power for 4 minutes in the main workout, their warmup will include pre-loading intervals at 110% of their threshold power, but I drop that interval down to 2 minutes at the most.
Lastly, and the hardest to get right, is to go by feel. The human body is amazing at picking up even the slightest changes to our physiological state, for better or worse, in our day-to-day lives. Warming up before each workout gives your body the chance to tell your brain “I am ready and willing,” or “nope, not today!” Listening to your body is both an art and a skill. Personally, when I am in the midst of a long, tough workout, the hour mark is my gauge. Even if I am feeling lethargic or sore, my body usually hits its stride around 60 minutes. If I still feel like crap 60 minutes into a workout, I call it a day because I know from past experience, things don’t usually improve from there. On the flip side, I know from previous training sessions that if I am feeling sore during my warmup, I should stick to it for at least the first interval because that sensation typically dissipates as the workout goes along. Understanding how your body reacts to specific types of training and keeping track of how you felt before, during, and after will really help you dial in your warm up routine for future training sessions.
RECAP
Three basic goals of any warm up routine:
1. Increase tissue temperature and circulation of whatever muscle groups you are targeting.
2. Act as a gauge to assess how your body feels that day.
3. Prepare your muscles, bones, and tendons for the load you are about to place on them.
Additional Info
The length of the warmup (in time) should be just enough to hit the three goals, with enough rest before the first working set of the workout.
The longer and easier the workout, the shorter and more basic the warm up can be. The shorter and more intense the workout, the longer and more detailed the warm up should be.
Disclaimer: The information contained in these topics is not intended nor implied to be a substitute for professional medical advice, it is provided for educational purposes only. You assume full responsibility for how you choose to use this information. Always consult with a qualified and licensed physician or other medical care provider, and follow their advice without delay regardless of anything read on this blog. Talk with your healthcare provider about any questions you may have regarding a medical condition. Nothing contained in these topics is intended to be used for medical diagnosis or treatment.
