Last week I was at Dubai at the DP World Tour Championships delivering a warm up to one of the golfers I work for and it reinforced a number of points that I would like to share.
Whether its a warm up for a sport, a recreational activity or your gym workout, it is an opportunity to educate the body further.
A warm up should be a practice to get you physically and mentally ready for the activity you are about to participate. Below are some key points for a successful warm up
Calibrate: I would always start my warm ups on the floor either in a prone (face down) or supine (face up position) position. I would then progress to either a quadruped (on all fours) or a side sit position, then to half kneeling, tall kneeling and finally standing. This process allows you to work your body and nervous system at a rate that can be controlled and without causing a threat to the body, what I like to call calibrate. As the positions progress so does the speed of movement, complexity of movement, specificity and possibly the introduction of external load.
Explore your available mobility. It is shame when I see golfers warming up and not exploring their available mobility. It is another chance to access and educate the body and the brain. Too many times I see golfers just going through the motions. This applies to any gym or other sporting warm up; provide the body with successful and controlled ranges of movement.
Using body drivers. When you walk along the street you don’t think about what you are doing. It is a learnt skill and is automatic or sub-conscious when we talk about the nervous system. Using body drivers, like an arm, you can elicit a certain ranges of movement in the hip that requires NO conscious thought or activation. You can use any part of the body, even your eyes! Using body drivers to elicit successful ranges of movement in other parts of the body is as authentic as we can be for the body and brain when warming up. Conscious cue's like “switch your butt on” when squatting is fine to help create more awareness to that area and to help facilitate change but ideally we need to be as authentic to the body and brain as possible.
If you want to learn about more concepts regarding warming ups for sports or the gym please get in touch at triprogolf@icloiud.com.
Rob