Are you that person that skips their warm-ups? Or do you do one, but you’re not entirely sure what you’re doing and why you’re doing it? Then this blog post is for you.
Performing a good warm up will get you both physically and mentally ready for your upcoming workout, and will make that workout more effective, as your body is primed and ready to go for whatever you’ll throw at it. Now you can do that in many ways, but like with so many other things, the easiest way to do a warm up is to stick to a structure and routine.
the ‘ramp’ protocol
One of my favorite ways to structure warm ups is by using the ‘RAMP’ protocol: Raise, Activate and Mobilize, and Potentiate. The good news? It doesn’t have to take hours, you can be done with it in 10-15 minutes and it will probably help you lift heavier and better too!
Here is how you do it:
RAISE: +/- 5 minutes. Get your heart rate up gradually to around 70% of your max and start breaking a light sweat. This can be done on a machine (I like using machines that use both arms and legs for this, like the air bike, or the rowing machine) or by other movements (jump rope, running, moving up and down the track, arm/leg swings, etc.).
ACTIVATE & MOBILISE: +/- 5-10 minutes. This is the phase where you wake your muscles up and make sure you can move through a good range of motion pain free and under control. This is done by doing dynamic stretches relevant to your upcoming workout (like bodyweight squats with rotations and lunges with overhead reach when you get ready for leg day). Now make sure you keep the stretches dynamic; the warm-up is not the time to get into a split and hold that position. In fact, static stretching during your warm up can actually decrease your performance. Pick around 3-6 different dynamic stretches and move through the motions 10x each, for 1-2 rounds, depending on how tight your body feels. As an extra you can use a foam roller beforehand for a couple of minutes if your body feels really tight and you feel like you need some extra help to get you loose.
3 of my favorite dynamic stretches are the Hand Walkout, World’s Greatest Stretch and the Cossack Squat. I’ve made an instagram post explaining these which you can see here.
POTENTIATE: +/- 5 minutes. This is where you get really specific. In this phase of the warm up you progressively build up to the right intensity for your workout. This can be done by doing a couple of warm up sets that gradually build up towards your intended load you want to lift on your main sets for strength exercises. If, for example, your first exercise of your workout is a back squat, start with an empty barbell, then build the weight up over a couple of warm up sets, before starting your working sets with heavy weight. And yes, even the strongest people in the world start their workouts with an empty barbell!
That’s it. After doing this you should be ready to destroy your workout. When done right, the RAMP warm up doesn’t need to take long and it will help you improve your performance, and who doesn’t like more results?. Within 10-15 minutes you’re ready to go and smash your workout. I’ll be honest, I haven’t always taken my time to get a good warm-up in. But now that I’m in my 30’s, it has become a no-brainer for me to spend a good few minutes getting the heart rate up and moving around before starting my main workout. If you want to be able to lift forever, take care of your body and do it right!
