Warm Up!
By Calvin Crawford – CC’s Staff
Warm Up.
Summer is in its peak and 4th of July just flew right by! Now its time to get focused on our late summer and fall events like the Bismarck Marathon or the Maah Daah Hey Bike race, or even start getting ready for hunting season! As many of you have been training hard all Spring and Summer, this time of year puts you at prime vulnerability for overuse injuries. We see a dramatic increase in tendinitis patients this time of year, and in some of those cases it is just from simple poor training habits.
Like everyone else, time is limited to get your workout in – Maybe it’s an early run or bike ride with friends and we tend to SKIP the key component to exercise – WARM UP. We hear the stories of “I have a half cup of coffee and out the door I go on my run!” Do you remember the days of high school cross country or track? There was a solid 15+ minute warm-up every. single. day. They didn’t do that to bore us to death, it was to prevent injury after a long day of sitting in a classroom. The desk remains ever present in our lives today, and yet the warm up disappeared? Without a proper warm up, you put yourself at a very high risk for muscle strains, tears and of course, tendinitis.
What warm up should I do? Static stretching is the devil prior to athletic performance. It reduces power output by creating a stretch reflex in the stretched tissues. This should be done AFTER workouts and AFTER foam rolling or some type of myofascial release ie: (Thera-gun, compression, lacrosse ball, foam rolling, etc.)
Dynamic warm-ups are where you should focus your efforts. Here is an example of a good warm-up, and there are several videos and articles online that show a high quality dynamic warm-up in about 5-8 minutes. Spend about 30 seconds to 1 minute on each exercise.
- Lunge with a twist
- Walking knee to chest
- Walking high kicks
- Inch Worms
- Lateral Lunges
- Jump Squats
- Jump Lunges
- High Knees
- Butt Kicks
- Karaoke
Post Author: Calvin Crawford
Cal’s lovely wife’s name is Ashley. They have been in their first house for a year and are loving being in their own space. They have a golden retriever named TRIP. Cal’s 4 seasons are Hunting, Snow Skiing, Water Skiing, and preparing for those 3.
