Strength is Never a Weakness: warm-up

Showing posts with label warm-up. Show all posts

Tuesday, 22 July 2014

Overcoming Injury and Preventing Injury

Injured....

That word which no athlete wants to hear. For the most part being injured comes from doing something externally controlled ratter than internally controlled.

Meaning you didn't have the control to stop it e.g breaking your leg skiing due to another skiing crashing into
You when you had stopped. We (for the most part) can control what is happening around us (internal control) such as preventing a muscle pull by doing a good warm up and performing the correct technique.

Athletes or anyone for that matter if an injury does happen it should only happen if its the following:

It was a random occurrence e.g I dropped a 20kg plate on my toe as I wasn't paying attention when loading the bar.

People make mistakes we are human but it's when people do stupid stuff then they will get injured. Such as:

- Performing the wrong technique week in week out

- Not following a programme

- Trying to max out every week and not letting their body rest/recover through adequate rest days or Deload periods.

- Not warning up or cooling down

- Training through an injury which hasn't recovered fully

- Eating the wrong foods/Eating poorly can affect your immune system which can lead to sickness then injuries.

So if you are like me you have been injured many times and recovered from them all. I often ask myself how did I get injured and for the most part (thankfully) my injures where externally controlled. I used to play rugby and being a contact sport injury was inevitable I broke my leg and dislocated shoulder.

All the muscle pulls/strains I have done previous where due not warming up. I have learned that now in hindsight.

Now I am a powerlifter and I have only injured myself once in the 2 years I have lifted (Minor pull doing German Volume Training). I wanted to put more muscle mass and in the process pulled my lat due to over exertion. Technique went out the window. Stupid error.

As the saying goes "We learn from our mistakes".

Hopefully for those reading your mistakes are only a handful not many.

So let's say you are injured 10-12 weeks out. You will feel annoyed, disheartened, sad etc. I have been there many of times and each time is just the same feeling of "Why me?"

I have come back from all my injures and so can you if you do the following.

- Stay Positive don't let the injury get you in dumps. You can come back from any injury only if you have the mindset. Being injured just takes time to recover from. Your mind is your ally you will recover quicker of you believe you can.

- Being Injured use it as an opportunity. By this I mean if you have injured your upper body work on your lower body make a weakness a strength during the time period of recovery for your injury. Don't sit idle.

- Try many rehab methods. Some people respond better to different methods of recovery. Get deep tissue massages from a sports therapist, acupuncture, yoga and Pilates etc. All great methods for improving your health by de stressing yourself removing knots and bumps in your muscles.

- Drink lots of water. May sound silly bit good body is made up of it (70% to be precise). When you are dehydrated you lose concentration and are more likely to make errors. Being hydrated you won't make these errors. Errors lead to injury.

- Talk to someone who has had a similar injury to you. This can give you an insight on their road to recovery and what they did.

- Get a Physio to create rehabilitation programme for you. This will be your quickest way to getting back to full fitness as this is their area of expertise.

- When you aren't training don't get your body into awkward/uncomfortable positions. As this will cause you to pull something.

-Lift with your legs not with your back is self explanatory.

- Keep warm when training, wear appropriate clothing when training to keep your muscles warm. Preventing injuries is very easy by staying warm.

- Last but not least warm up and cool down.

I hope the points I have provided will help you out in the future.

Guys I have my own Facebook Page where I put up my training videos and other educational posts. Give it a like, share

Andrew Richardson, Founder of Strength is Never a Weakness Blog

I have a BSc (Hons) in Applied Sport Science and a Merit in my MSc in Sport and Exercise Science and I passed my PGCE at Teesside University.

Now I will be commencing my PhD into "Investigating Sedentary Lifestyles of the Tees Valley" this October 2019.

I am employed by Teesside University Sport and WellBeing Department as a PT/Fitness Instructor.

My long term goal is to become a Sport Science and/or Sport and Exercise Lecturer. I am also keen to contribute to academia via continued research in a quest for new knowledge.

My most recent publications:

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1752928X19300216

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1752928X19301076

My passion is for Sport Science which has led to additional interests incorporating Sports Psychology, Body Dysmorphia, AAS, Doping and Strength and Conditioning.

Within these respective fields, I have a passion for Strength Training, Fitness Testing, Periodisation and Tapering.

I write for numerous websites across the UK and Ireland including my own blog Strength is Never a Weakness.

I had my own business for providing training plans for teams and athletes.

I was one of the Irish National Coaches for Powerlifting, and have attained two 3rd places at the first World University Championships,

in Belarus in July 2016.Feel free to email me or call me as I am always looking for the next challenge.

Contact details below;

Facebook: Andrew Richardson (search for)

Facebook Page: @StrengthisNeveraWeakness

Twitter: @arichie17

Instagram: @arichiepowerlifting

Snapchat: @andypowerlifter

Email: a.s.richardson@tees.ac.uk

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrew-richardson-b0039278

Research Gate: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Andrew_Richardson7

Saturday, 12 July 2014

Looking at the “RAMP” Warm up Method By Andrew Richardson

Looking at the “RAMP” Warm up Method

In this article we will look at this method of warming up created by Ian Jeffery one of the board members of the UKSCA (United Kingdom Strength and Conditioning Association).

When writing this article I will using the exact text used to describe what “RAMP” is then applying it to a powerlifting “RAMP” style warm up. The text will be taken from the exact “RAMP” article linked in the references section at the end.
The “RAMP” article writing is in italics and my own points in normal text.

What is “RAMP”?

RAMP stands for

1/ Raise

This phase has the aim of elevating body temperature, heart rate, respiration rate, blood flow and joint fluid viscosity via low intensity activities.

Ian makes a great point which is highlighted “Given the limited training time a strength and conditioning coach has with the athletes, and the contribution that warm-up can play in the training process, this phase can be dedicated to movement skills and/or sport skills. Over a training year these activities can contribute a massive amount of time dedicated to developing these key elements”.

A warm up is the first part of any session and can influence how the workout goes, A crap warm-up means a crap session and increased chance of injuries. Everyone knows why we warm up;

- Prevent injury

- Prepare ourselves for the upcoming performance

- Warm the muscles to be worked

- Mentally prepares the athletes for the game or match

2/ Activate and Mobilise

Ian: This phase has two key aims

1. To activate key muscle groups.

2. To mobilize key joints and ranges of motion used in the sport.

In terms of specific activation, the inclusion of this will depend upon the needs of the athlete and/or the sport. In some instances, where key muscle groups may need to be stimulated, exercises can be selected that target these key muscles. This can often involve exercises traditionally associated with prehab such as mini band routines, rotator cuff exercises, glute bridges, overhead squats etc. This is a time efficient method of including these exercises in the training programme, and the extent of this phase will depend upon the individual sport and the individual athlete’s needs.

The achievement of the mobilization phase of the warm-up takes a radically different approach than the traditional static stretching approach. Rather than focus on individual muscles, the approach is to work on movements. This has a number of key advantages. First, the dynamic nature contributes to maintaining the elevation effects of the first period. Secondly the movements are more specific to those found in the sport, and thirdly it is extremely time efficient.

In a warm up to activate certain muscles would be using bands and foam rollers to increase ROM (Range of Motion) and to activate particular muscles before the training session. Using bands to pull the shoulder blades together then squeezing the lats, rhomboids to activate them. When a muscle’s length has been increased, the amount of force and strength that can be put down is drastically increased.

It is important to free up all angles and planes of motions the body works in especially for the athletes sports. If he/she cannot move through a plane of motion then flexibility and mobility training need to be done.

However in some sports if the athlete can reduce the distance they have to work their performance will increase.

E.g. A squat going from a narrow close stance to a wide stance reduces the range of motion the athlete has to work in.

3/ Potentiate

Ian: The term ‘potentiation’ refers to activities that improve effectiveness, and in the case of the warm-up involves the selection of activities that will improve the effectiveness of subsequent performance. This phase of the warm-up will see a gradual shift towards the actual sport performance or workout itself, and will normally involve sport specific activities of increasing intensity.

The potentiation phase of the warm-up can have two aims.

1. The first, and most common aim, is to increase the intensity of exercise to a point at which athletes are able to perform their training/match activities at their maximal levels.

2. The second, and least common application, is to select activities that may contribute to a super-maximal effect, where the activities chosen contribute to an enhanced performance effect, via the utilisation of the post-activation potentiation (PAP) effect.

This stage of the warm up the athlete should have warmed up to an intensity that matches what will happen in a game situation. The second stage would be doing a movement or exercise that is harder than the actual event. An example of this would be doing a warm up set with more weight than the working sets.

Another key point in this stage as it acts to reinforce the athlete’s technique for the upcoming event. It forces the athlete to think about what they are doing especially when the intensity is high (which means there is a lot of weight being lifted and or the difficulty of the exercise has increased).

Powerlifting RAMP Method

Stage 1: Raise

A simple pulse raising activity such as exercise bike for 5 minutes or some bodyweight squats. This will get the heart rate elevated, increase synovial fluid production.

Stage 2: Activate and Mobilise

Perform foam rolling on all necessary muscles combined with band and dynamic stretching. This will increase the muscle length and range of motion.

Foam roll; calves, hamstrings, glutes, quads, lower and upper back.

Bands; hips, glutes, shoulders

Stage 3: Potentiate

Increase the intensity of the exercise through the warm up doing movements that replicate the intended training session or event.

Squats;

- Barbell for x amount of reps

- 20% for x amount of reps

- 40% for x amount of reps

- 60% for x amount of reps

- 70% for x amount of reps

- Working weight etc

You can choose to do a set which is harder than the working sets this will cause a post-activation potentiation (PAP) effect.

I have been part of a study which used this method of post activation potentiation. The study was conducted at Teesside University (my uni). It involved me doing pre test my 1RM squat max which I attained 205kg. A week later doing my max standing vertical jump where I got 48cm. The next part of the study I did was my 3RM based off that max which was 190kg. Immediately after doing my 3RM I then did a max vertical jump test where my score went from 48cm to 52cm.