Warming up has been a great topic in the fitness business lately, everybody has their opinion and their favorite exercises they perform preworkout. I don't care much for the debate between static vs dynamic stretching, either. I think you need lots of static stretching if you have a problem getting into certain necessary positions for the exercises you will be performing for the day. You also need lots of dynamic range of motion exercises to prepare your body for the challenges about to come. If you're an active athlete and play a sport like football, you know that at any second you could find yourself in any number of awkward positions. Being prepared will keep you safe and healthy and performing at an optimum level. If you feel good and are excited for the days training or performance, than it is an effective warm up. This video shows how we begin our warm up with a top down approach with a football team just before a big game. We hit all the major areas and do not waste too much time. You'll see how things do not need to be drill sergeant perfect choreography, but that does look damn cool if your team is disciplined enough to pull it off. But in an environment like ours, where the players practice just a few days a week, you need to spend your precious time on more important things than being in a perfectly straight line and synchronizing all of your movements. This is not life or death, just Polish Football, American style.

Get on over to the private membership area to see the additional 11 minute video of the agility drills we do as a unit to prepare for the big game. Agility drills help prepare your body for all types of dynamic movements as required in sport. If you have played football before, you know what I am talking about. If you haven't, or are just looking for some new exercises to perform to increase your athletes or personal fitness and athleticism, you need to check this video out over at the private membership blog.

In the following video I discuss a few options we all have available to us to help our shoulders start feeling better right now. Please share your thoughts and perhaps any considerations you have for good shoulder mobility or simply good shoulder warm up, prehab or rehab exercises. There are many out there, what do you like?

Quick post today about explosive bodyweight drills to perform after your warm up and before your heavy lifting. The word warm up is broad, and differs for many. It could be some smr, stretching, and activation, among some other options. Then you gotta do some heavy lifting! But before that, I recommend some occasional jumping to get the systems firing at high speed. Here are a few options...

Everybody prepares for training, or battle, their own way. Depending on my training for the day, I will be more or less aggressive. If I am preparing for highly skilled movements, like gymnastics or olympic lifting, I will try to relax and find a focused concentration in myself. If I am doing a circuit or some heavy lifting, I will simply try to get jacked up. The music I play is a big influence in how I prepare and train. Some of my favorite music to listen to before skills training would be the music of nature. Get outside and enjoy the birds, the ocean breeze, or water flowing down a stream. I find great power in tranquility. I clear my mind and focus on the only thing I am about to do right now. Not this morning, or later tonight or tomorrow. Right now is the moment that we are living in. Embrace it. Now I'm not some tree huggin hippie, I like hardcore too. But there is a time and place for the right type of stimulus. The greater the skill required for a particular exercise, the less external stimulus is necessary. Think of the crowd hushing before a gymnasts takes the stage. Now think of a pr deadlift attempt. Obviously this requires great skill at elite levels, but for the most part, you are simply standing up, albeit with a half ton of weight in some cases. In my opinion, this might require severe external stimulus. The external stimulus should coincide with the internal focus. Do you need to rage, or do you need peace and tranquility to succeed at a particular endeavor? Your preparation should be ever changing or you are not accommodating nor very well balanced in your abilities.

The following video shows 5 basic movements that we perform before some of our upper body intensive training days. Here we are using a relatively light slamball, it has very little rebound, or bounce. You can find it at several online stores with an easy google search. Maybe I will sell them soon. But anyway, These movements can also be performed with a tire, a sandbag or even other implements. It's not about the tool, it's how you use it, and more importantly, how you use your body and your time. I can not overemphasize the importance of a quality warm up and preparation before intense training. If you don't have time to warm up, you don't have time to train. These points can be taken lots of different ways, I'll let you make your own conclusions. After some general warm up and mobilization drills, I perform some ballistic medicine ball throws, give them a shot if you have the opportunity. Here goes...

1. Barbell Power Snatch 5x2

2a.  Squat 6x4
2b.  Box Jump from seat 6x3
2c.  Barbell Cheat Curls 6x6

3a.  Step ups 3x10/10
3b.  Walking RDL's 3x10/10

4a.  GHR 3x12-15
4b.  HLR 3x12-15

5.  Sprint 6x40 meters

6.  Prowler 5-10x30 meters


Below is a good warm up to prepare you for snatching