How to design a warm up

A warm up is not about getting warm. Looking around you when you come in to train you will notice that a typical gym bunny ‘warm up’ consists of a couple of light weight sets of the exercise they are about to do, then pile on the weight and go for glory.

If you’re lucky you may see someone do a few minutes on a cross trainer or a rower then one or two static stretches or swings of their limbs. They may be warm – yes, but are they prepared for the movements they are about to undertake – absolutely not.

The purpose of this article is to change the emphasis of a ‘warm up’ from simply getting warm on a frosty morning, to being adequately prepared for a training session. By following some of these pointers you should see a marked improvement in how you move and feel, your performance in the gym, and most importantly reducing your risk of injury. From a typical gym session of 1 hour, you should spend at least 15 minutes of that on your warm ups.

The most important consideration when designing your warm up is that strength training cements movement patterns. Therefore if you have a faulty or dysfunctional movement – then performing it under load for sets and reps will make it very hard to ‘un learn’. Your warm up, therefore, should be about getting into the most optimal position available to you at that time and then beginning to work under load.

I like to break a warm up into four distinct sections:

Release: Foam rolling or other myofascial work to reduce sympathetic tone and improve tissue quality.

Reset: The most simple way to look at this is ‘reverse posture’. Have you just been sat hunched over a keyboard for 8 hours? In which case consider thoracic extensions. Have you just run to the gym or been on your feet all day? In which case think of core activation work and specific hip mobility.

This is about getting you as close to a ‘neutral’ posture as you can get on that particular day. Your re-set drills will be specific to you and are things you should see progressions with from session to session.

Readiness: What movements are you about to perform in the gym?

Overhead pressing – then think of scapular stabilisation and shoulder mobility. quatting – then consider ankle mobility, glute activation and hip flexor mobility.

This portion of your warm up will be specific to your work out. If you are unsure then I recommend working ‘toe to head’ through your body segments – each adjacent segment should be either mobile or stable i.e.:

 

Feet – stable

 

Ankle – Mobile

 

Knee – Stable

 

Hip – Mobile

 

Lumbar spine – Stable

 

Thoracic spine – Mobile

 

Scapular – stable

 

Shoulder – Mobile

Reactive: This is really your transition from your warm up to the workout. Reactive work is prepping your central nervous system (CNS) and getting it fired up to do some work. Examples of reactive work for the lower body are skipping, hopping and bounding drills. For the upper body - medicine ball throws, slams and stomps. For the supermen (and women) out there this is where your box jumps and clap push ups should fit in to your session.

Give this a try, and let me know how you get on, and remember - a warm is not about getting warm – it is about getting your body in the optimal position to cope with the demands you are about to place on it.

Don't forget the little guys

One of the most common training mistakes we see people making is letting the mirror or their ego be their guide – as opposed to a logical, thought out and planned training session.

Training only what you can see in the mirror, or falling into the trap of needing a testosterone fuelled answer to ‘how much do you bench?’ can lead to an unbalanced program. Unbalanced programming leads to an unbalanced body. An unbalanced body can, and in the majority of cases, will, lead to injury or pain – not cool.

In this day and age of limited time, anything that seems like a quick fix or giving instant results will have its appeal. However, taking a few minutes at the start of every workout on some of the vastly overlook smaller stabilising muscles will pay off tenfold when it comes to training the bigger muscle groups.

One of the smaller areas that almost everyone can benefit from paying some attention to is the stabilising musculature of the scapular. The scapular, or shoulder blade, has two quite different but interdependent functions in upper limb mechanics. It both provides stability, and assists with movement at our most mobile joint – the shoulder.

FACT – Did you know that the humorous, or upper arm, can only abduct (raise outwards) by 30 degrees? The rest of the movement is provided by the scapular.

We all know that people interested in weight training, whether its for sports performance, health, or simple aesthetics all get a kick out of lifting heavy things.

However, how many times do you stop and think about what must happen within the body to provide that force? A bench press, overhead press, or the humble push-up all require an expression of force during shoulder flexion (driving the upper arm away from the body). If the upper arm can only abduct by 30 degrees without needing assistance from the shoulder blade then we can start to see how important healthy and functional scapulae are during international bench press hour (that’s Monday at 6pm to the uninitiated).

So what does this all mean? Well – did you ever hear the expression ‘you can’t shoot a canon from a canoe’? Most often quoted when talking about core training – but equally important in shoulder function.

There is no way that 100kg bench press is going anywhere in a hurry without being propelled from a stable base – and that stability comes from the shoulder blade. If there is no stability in the scapular then the body will find it some place else. All that shrugging and wriggling around that you see during a bench press or a push up is not so much people trying to hoist up a weight – but more the body looking for a stable platform from which to exert a force. The body will find stability somewhere – it doesn’t want a 100kg barbell crashing down on it any more than it wants to go face first into the matt during a push up. Another way to look at this is trying to exert a force with your arms without stable scapulae is a bit like trying to sprint on sand – its possible, but it isn’t half hard work!

How do we achieve this?

You can ‘set’ your scapulae by going through some very simple activation drills for the surrounding musculature. Try running through the following before performing any kind of upper body push (or pull) and you should be able to feel the effect of having a stable platform.

*Prone ‘scaptions’ or flying Ys

*Scapular push ups (also known as serratus punch)

*Hanging scapular retractions (hand from a chin up bar, and simply try to pinch your shoulder blades together)

*Scapular wall slides

Each of these movements will help you to be aware of where your shoulder blades are sitting, but also to innervate the smaller muscles that hold the scapulae in place. The shoulder blades should feel as though they are sucked down and back and are flat against the back of the rib cage.

It may go against your instincts in a time pressured lunchtime training session, but if you want to train the big muscle groups effectively then invest 10 mins at the start of every workout on some of the small ones.

10 Reasons not to jog

Jogging – somewhere between walking fast and running slowly. Something you will see tens of thousands of people do, and if you ever ask them why... Well, theyre trying to 'get in shape' of course.

Jogging is, in my opinion, not the best way to spend 40 mins of your life. Yes is better than spending your life glued to your couch inhaling KFC. But in the pursuit of athletic performance or obtaining ideal body composition its about as useful as an ashtray on a motorbike.

Here - in no particular order are my top 10 reasons not to jog:

1 - Knee Health

The knee joint is a classic hinge joint protected from hyperextension by two thick crossed (hence 'cruciate') ligaments at the rear, and a cap of bone at the front.

Not a lot that can go wrong there right?

Picture for a moment what is going on inside the knee: the long, strong femur is resting on top of the tibia and fibula, the two long bones of the shin.

The contact area between the two bones is no more than 3cm in diameter.

Now anyone who has had their hardwood floor attacked by a pair of high heels can testify, focussing human bodyweight through a smaller surface area creates high pressure.

Within the knee joint we have a very focussed small surface area bearing the whole body weight. Stand on one leg and you double it.

Hop on one leg and you can add an impact force of 3 x bodyweight.

Jogging can essentially be considered an uninterrupted series of jumps from one leg to the other. Lets assume a 30 min jog, consisting of approx 4,000 heel strikes carried out by a 90 kilo male, we're looking at a cumulative force 540,000 Newtons being forced through each knee joint.

Now the knees of a 'trained' individual don't deal with anywhere near this amount of stress - they are able to use the bigger, stronger hip joints to deal with force absorption - however - for the sake of this article we are talking about the sedentary individual taking up jogging - not the trained athlete.

2 - Body Composition

So you want to 'get in shape' in what shape exactly?

As the highly regarded strength coach, and friend of mine Phil Learney put so perfectly “I challenge anyone to stand at the finish line of the London Marathon, and pick out a body shape they would like to have.”

I can, quite honestly talk all day about why jogging is not the answer for those looking to improve body composition. In summary you are working distinctly sub maximally, using your muscle as a fuel source, and elevating cortisol, joggers tend to make up the classic 'skinny fat' look.

 3 - Sport Specificity

For those of us looking to improve athletic performance, jogging is not the answer.

One of the fundamental principles of training is specificity, i.e, practise how you play. Unless you are competing in the slightly faster than walking pace 30 minute event (there may be one somewhere) there is absolutely no cross over between jogging and sport.

The closest you will get is a competitive distance runner. But even they do not jog – they run – their runs are progressive, varied, challenging, and relevant to their sport.

One of the other chief culprits for pointless road running is the combat athlete. You find me a boxer, judo player or MMA fighter who competes at a sub maximal steady pace for 30 minutes.....

Competitive fights are a series of 10-20 second sprints followed by periods of active recovery.

That is not to say that sub maximal steady state running does not have its place as part of a structured, specific, and progressive training programme. For some athletes it does, but the key point here is it is a prescribed part of the programme, it is not the programme itself.

4 - Get fit to run, don't run to get fit

Who are the most likely people to take up jogging?

Fat people of course.

Who are the worst population group to be subjecting their joints to repetitive impact? Those carrying around excessive weight of course

We considered the problems of repetitive impacts on the knee and the lower back – of a 90 kilo male?  Well now lets add another

10 kilos of non functional mass to him.... get the picture....?

For the significantly overweight and untrained the trick is to start to strengthen, and to modify the diet. Way before looking at adding lumbar disc injuries to the list of problems being endured.

5 - Lower back

Quick crash course on lower back problems. The majority of people complaining of 'bad backs' are experiencing pain around the L4 L5 region. In English they are the 4^th and 5^th lumbar vertebrae.

Why? If a person has poor posture, poor hip mobility, reduced core stability and an underactive posterior chain they will be highly likely to have an anterior pelvic tilt.

If you imagine the pelvis as a breakfast bowl – what this means is that the bowl is tipped slightly down at the front of the body. This is an incredibly common condition and is a result of spending a lifetime in flexion (sitting down) shortening the hip flexors, and under utilising the glutes, erectors and hamstrings.

Why is this all relevant? Because all of these factors lead to a hinging in the lumbar spine. Where will this hinging happen? At the body's centre of mass – which is where? At the L4 L5 junction.

Now lets think through which parts of the population are likely to have factors contributing to an anterior pelvic tilt, and who will be hinging from their lower back instead of their hips....

The sedentary population of course, likely to be overweight, and the most likely to be taking up jogging!

Anterior Pelvic Tilt perfectly demonstrated....  Despite appearences, not a good thing!

Without getting bogged down in the detail of biomechanics, there is a difference in the muscle recruitment patterns in jogging and sprinting. A jog is essentially a series of continual jumps, and is powered by the knee extensor and hip flexor muscle groups, there is of course significant assistance happening elsewhere - but you get the idea.

A sprint is powered by the hip extensors, the sprinter strikes the ground with the ball of the foot and drags himself forwards across it – the power comes from the glutes and hamstrings (show me a sprinter with a small ass!).

So – if we take our jogger – already likely to have all the predisposing factors for a lower back hinge – and send him out to do repetitive low intensity hip flexion what will happen?

Well, the hip flexors will become even more over active, the glutes relax to compensate, and we accentuate the pelvic tilt. Throw on top of that the fact that this hinge is being subjected to abnormal loading and we have ourselves a problem.

6 – Catabolism

Jogging will burn calories. OK – we all know that. Must be a good thing right? Not always....

A more appropriate way to describe it would be that jogging requires fuel. The myth that gets bandied around is if you dont eat, and go for a jog – then your body will start to use stored fat to fuel the run...  sounds simple enough? Well if only it were true.

The human body will take the path of least resistance on almost every occasion – it needs glucose for energy, yes it has the ability to convert both proteins and fats to glucose, but if there is glucose already there then why bother?

(side note – now you know why the person you see on the cross trainer for hours sipping on a Gatorade looks exactly the same as he did a year ago – direct source of glucose fuelling the work)

OK so we don't eat and go for a jog – surely that does it?

No. Fat is the most slowly digested of all macro nutrients – and the fat stored subcutaneously is a stubborn son of a b*tch.

If there is no glucose available in its simplified form, or that can be metabolised from carbohydrates, the next fuel source the body will turn to is protein. Yes that's right you will start to digest your own skeletal muscle tissue!

The order in which you will do this is least used will go first – so if your only activity is your repetitive quad dominant jog then the over active and hypertonic hip flexors and quads are reasonably safe – but say goodbye to any unused upper body muscle bulk. And that underactive posterior chain....? Yes you guessed it – its powering your jog, but not in the way you want it to!

7 - Lack of Adaptation

There is a very distinct difference between training and exercising. Training has a specific purpose, exercising is essentially moving from A to B.

The human body is the most complex thing in existence. It is pretty clever, and it doesnt like change. It will do everything it can (which is a lot) to maintain status quo – that doesnt mean subsidising some middle aged rockers – it means it likes things to be just as they are. It will adapt and whatever situation it is in will soon become normal. You know how when you walk in somewhere that really stinks – yet after a few minutes you don't notice it anymore...?

This is this phenomenon in practise – your brain has recognised the situation, adapted, and desensitised you to it – thus it has become 'normal '.

I'm over simplifying here – but the same thing is happening on a bigger scale with any stress or stimulus you subject the human body to, it will eventually adapt and it becomes the norm. The correct term is homeostasis or 'static man'.

This, folks, is a point I can not make strongly enough. Eventually you will adapt to whatever changes you have made.

Once you have adapted, the best you can hope for is standing still. You want to improve again you need to change again.

Don't get me wrong, if the first change was getting up and jogging for 20 mins 3 times per week you will see some sort of improvement on when you spent that 20 mins sat watching re runs of Friends.

However, I say it again, once you have become slightly more efficient at transporting oxygen around your body and some basic metabolic changes have taken place - your 3 x 20 min jogs will very quickly become normal, and you will achieve homeostasis at this level of activity.

My biggest issue with the jogging 'keep fitters' is the concept of doing the human equivalent of carbon offsetting. Do a few minutes of light activity per week and you can justify 8 pints and a Dominoes on a Friday night. Sorry folks, the brutal truth is it does not work like that. You have adapted to your activity level, you are now standing still, you throw a whole load of crap down your neck and you will be going backwards. Have a few weeks of going backwards, reach the decision that all this exercise stuff is pointless so you give up the whole jamboree.

You want to make changes to your athletic ability or to your body composition – then make changes to what you do. If you dont – then dont.

As Albert Einstein once said – repeating the same action and expecting a different outcome is the definition of insanity.

8 – You want to be better, or a Beta?

OK lets get down to brass tacks here, but the gazelle - for all of his elegance, grace and endurance – is not t the top of the food chain.

Throughout the natural world, the king of the jungle is the one that has adapted for speed and power.

The silverback is the boss because get too close to him and he will remove your limbs. Not because he has a decent 5k time.

This may sound basic – but it is imprinted in our genetic code.

We look at sport, the heavyweight boxers have throughout history always been the big draw. The most watched event at the Olympics? The 100m mens final.

 Look at military officers, is it a co incidence that across the world, every culture has independently decided that a symbol of power is placing more and more decoration (or padding) on the shoulders?

We have evolved to look up to and respect those who were bigger, stronger, faster. This is something innately primal in all of us.

Instead of being afraid of it, or embarrassed by it – accept and embrace it.

 9 – Joggers Nipple

Pretty simple. You wants your nips to bleed? Then rub them up and down with a damp sticky shirt for an hour a day.

Feeding Dracula babies?

 And yes – this guy really has bled through his T Shirt, and his wind jacket

10 – Weather

For number 10 – you may think I'm clutching at straws here – but this is London. It is almost July. Take a look out of the window folks

To quote the sign outside Angel Undergound station:

“In the bible it rained for 40 days they called it a disataster. In London we call it summer”

Do you need to eat less to lose weight?

It's a no brainer right? Calories in versus calories out...?

If you're trying to lose weight then stop eating so much tubby...

Well is it that really true... how many people actually overeat? Not in a meal, or in a day, but consistently and over a period of time?

Of course we have all seen the car crash TV about the 2 tonne teenager, but if we are looking at the general population over the period of a week-10 days people are generally consuming the amount of calories that they need.

If a person is consistently and continually over eating then they would be consistently and continually gaining weight. In the majority of people is that the case? Or are they a bit over weight and just staying there....?

The answer is that the significant majority of people wanting to change their body composition are at a consistent weight (i.e., not gaining or losing) just not the weight they want to be at, or perhaps more importantly, not at the composition they want to be at.

How many times have we all done it – pigged out at lunch and just had a bit of toast for dinner? Skipped breakfast and grabbed an extra sandwich at lunchtime? We can say that we are over eating at specific points of the day – but over the whole day – or over the whole week most people are under eating just as often as they over eat. And over a week long period are more than likely taking in exactly the number of calories they need to maintain their current bodyweight. Why this happens we can talk at great length about, but the broad summary is that the human body does not like change – and will do everything it can to preserve the 'norm' (termed homeostasis).

The typical westerner moderately overweight will be eating 2 meals per day (3 if you class a bowl of refined carbs, preservatives and a splash of lactose as a meal). Mr Typical will be splitting the significant majority of his daily calorie intake between two (most likely oversize) meals at breakfast and dinner.

Now what is the problem with that we may ask.....?

If Mr Typical was a crocodile not a lot. A croc will eat its own bodyweight in meat then sleep it off for a couple of weeks. Lucky crocodile does not devour a wildebeest then have to help baby crocodile with his homework and change the tyre on Mrs Crocodile's VW.

Mr Typical lives in a 24 hour world. So what is happening to the food Mr Typical is consuming in his twice daily feeds?

Well – depending on how active he is being at the time he is using what he needs for energy and the rest goes into reserves, his reserves being his fat cells.

But if he skips breakfast wont he burn that off again in the 10+ hours between his evening meal and his lunch?

If only it were that simple.

Of the three macronutients: Carbohydrate, Protein and Fat. The body will digest and utilise them in exactly that order.

Now as Mr Typical's calorie needs are relatively consistent during the 17 hours he is awake, during the large gaps between his feeds he will rely on stored fuels. He will have a limited amount of carbohydtrate stored as glycogen in the liver and skeletal muscle, but during these 'fasts' he will primarily be relying on his proteins. You guessed it – that's his muscle tissue.

And which muscle tissue is at risk? That which he uses the least of course.

So Mr Typical can go from overeat, to intermittent calorie deficit and what is happening is he will lay down more bodyfat and literally eat away at those muscles he uses the least. He will maintain his constant body mass, but his 'condition' will be deteriorating exponentially. He is getting fatter, whilst his under active muscles are getting weaker.

If Mr Typical sits down at work we can take a guess that the glutes, abs and upper back are underactive and will be at the top of the menu, (see Use it or Lose it). Mr Typical is getting a pot belly, round shoulders and a flat ass to go along with his low energy and poor mood (see The Insulin Balance).

So what is the answer?

The answer can be found by understanding a couple of basic principles of metabolism. Metabolism is the process whereby energy is released from food. It is dependent on a number of factors ranging from climate, mood, to having chosen your parents correctly. However, it does have one, very significant influencer – eating. The process of putting food in your mouth starts a hormonal cascade that results in an increased 'turnover' of nutrients. Now it is possible to cheat the system, and some studies have shown that chewing gum can stimulate peristalsis and increase metabolism – but for now Mr Typical is just going to eat.

We have already discussed the fact that energy is most readily available from Carbs, then Proteins, and finally fats. And that what is not used is stored for later. This is due to the fact that the body uses glucose for energy, and that glucose is the most simple form of carbohydrate.

In fact all carbohydtrates are essentially sugars of various degrees of complexity. Anything that the body wants to use for energy must first be broken down into a sugar – and that includes proteins and fats.

Proteins and fats can be used for their prime functions (cellular regeneration and hormonal function respectively) as well as being metabolised into a carbohydtrate, whereas carbohydtrates can either be used as energy or go into the storage tank.

Conclusion – if Mr Typical applies these two principles, along with some common sense – he can feed himself regularly, keeping his metabolism stimulated and improving his turnover of nutrients. He can also adjust the ratio of the foods he is taking in, understanding that carbohydtrates are a fuel for energy, and the more simple or refined the sugar, the more quickly it needs to be used.

In short we can feed Mr Typical regular, high protein, high fat meals. Top up his glycogen stores with carbs when he will need it for exercise, and we can create a significant shift in his body composition. Complement that with a progressive high intensity training programme and we can do something dramatic.

He will be eating more solid food, more frequently, feeling more full, and certainly wont be feeling like he's on a diet.

So can you lose body fat by eating more? You bet your under active glutes you can.