Warming up…..
I am writing this post to stress the importance of the warm up. If you miss the group warm up it is your responsibility to warm up on your own. Now that being said I think that we need to focus on warming up for a WOD especially if there is weight involved.
Warming up the WOD should be equal to or greater than the actual WOD. If there is weight involved that should be the majority of the focus of the warm up phase. If the WOD calls for a 100lb lift (pick your flavor) at 15 reps per round, the wrong answer is to lift the 100lbs 2x and then say you are ready for the WOD. A good rule is to do 3 rounds of at least a third of the reps required for one actual round in the WOD. So, example 3 rounds of 5 at 100lb is a good warm up. I have stressed this before and the usual feedback is “I don’t want to waste my energy.” This is a copout answer. If your energy is ‘wasted’ on a few extra reps then the weight is too heavy already and you are going to be disappointed in the WOD by reducing weight.
Warming up the weight is primarily about safety. But I also believe that if you are warmed up properly your entire workout will go smoother. On that note, there are two things that can be discouraging to athletes and to coaches. Both are related to not warming up properly. Both happen after the workout has started, First is taking weight off the bar because the weight is too heavy, second is finishing in record time and then when you are done saying “well I could have used more weight.”
So to wrap it up, complete at least a third of the first round of any workout before you start, then either add weight or reduce as necessary. (refer to example above)
Please feel free to post any questions or comments to the comments section…..
