Villanova's Coach Masterson's Go-To Warm-Up
The Warmup
What's the first thing you do when you get to the gym? Oftentimes it's spent scanning the weight room, workout card or picking your playlist for the day. In doing so you often forget to perform a general performance warm-up before getting into your lift. If you are not performing any warm-up, then you are making a major mistake. For the weekend warriors you may be able to get through your workout without getting injured. For the intermediate and professional athletes, it is imperative that you take 5-7 minutes to get yourself warmed-up.
Why?
The purpose of the warm-up is to prepare your body for activity. The warm-up is utilized to excite the central nervous system, increase core body temperature and heart rate, so that you are physically prepared for the work to come. You are also taking the body through some ranges of motion (dynamic mobility) to check in and see how your body is feeling that day.
Below is my list of movements that I have made a routine of performing every day before I start my workout.
The Warm-up:
- 10 Jumping Jacks
- 10 Seal Jacks
- 5 Way Hip Rocker
- 3-5 Each Double/Single Leg Glute Bridge
- 8 Deadbugs
- 5 Body Weight Squats
- 3 Each Speed Reverse Lunges
- 3 Each Lateral Lunges
- 10 Low Pogos
After these basic exercises are performed you can then move onto movements that are geared towards specific exercises you may be performing that day. When coaching my athletes, I use the warm-up as a readiness assessment. The team warm-up sets the tone for the workout! As we work through movements, I am scanning the room to see who is able to move gracefully through each movement and those who may be struggling due to any limitations/restrictions that are limiting their range of motion. This is a great readiness assessment you can perform on yourself each day.
Finally, think about the compounding effects of working through these exercises and ranges of motion each day. Like anything the more you do it the better you get. I guarantee you will see increased ROM, feel more prepared, and execute better lifts after starting your workout with a proper warm-up.
Colin Masterson
Sports Performance Coach at Villanova University
Follow along for more content on IG @CM1_performance
