Dynamic Warm-up for Running: What is it and how can it help with Sports Recovery?
Optimizing your sports recovery is a continuous effort and a dynamic warm-up prior to training can help tremendously. As athletes, we have all been told to warm-up before exercise but let’s be honest, with time crunches and the overwhelming number of exercises, it is hard to stick to a warm-up consistently. However, Dynamic warm-ups should be a key component of your training. If structured correctly they can help you reduce likelihood of injury, prime your body to perform, and improve your body’s ability to recover.
In this article we will touch on the following:
- What a dynamic warmup is and why it’s important
- How to structure your dynamic warm-up to ensure you are getting the most out of it your warm-up
- How warm-ups effect sports recovery
- Tools to enhance your Warm-up and performance
Let’s get after it!
What is a Dynamic Warm up and why is it important:
A dynamic warmup is a routine for priming your body, mentally and physically, to perform using sport specific movements that active blood flow, warm the muscles, and move the body through ranges of motion. For endurance athletes, it is important to make sure that the body is ready to perform as training can be very high impact and highly taxing. By implementing a dynamic warmup into your pre-training routine you can help improve your performance, lower your chance of injury, and help your body recover.
Using the R.A.M.P Method: The Optimal Structure for a Dynamic Warm-up
The R.A.M.P method was created and coined by Ian Jefferys and has been implemented by many running, endurance, and team sport coaches to structure dynamic warmups to best prepare their athletes for peak performance.
R.A.M.P is an Acronym, standing for:
Raise – Low intensity movements focused on increasing your body temperature, blood flow, and respiration rate.
Activate – Movements to activate key muscle groups. These movements should be specific to your needs for the specific training session and if the activity you are doing requires key muscle group activation, then these movements should target those groups (Ex. Squatting = target posterior and glutes). * These movements will vary depending on the exercise you will be performing.
Mobilize – In conjunction with the activation phase these are movements that aim to mobilize the key muscle groups to be used and move the body through sport specific movement.
Potentiate – This phase will include sport specific activities that increase in intensity. (Ex. For a speed day you could do 4- 6 strides at increasing intensity.)
Utilizing R.A.M.P to structure your dynamic workouts will ensure that they are effective in helping your body prepare for your workout. An effective dynamic workout can have profound positive effects on performance and your sports recovery. Below is an example Dynamic workout for runners.
Example Dynamic Warmup:
Here is a basic R.A.M.P style dynamic warm-up for endurance athletes looking to improve performance, reduce injury, and improve sports recovery.
- 2:00 Minutes – Mono-Structural Movement @ Low intensity
- This can be a light jog, cycle, or row. Tailor the movement to what you will be doing and keep the intensity low. The objective is to raise your HR and get your blood flowing.
- Activate & Mobilize – Dynamic movements
- Walking lunge with T-Spine rotation x 10-20 total
- Frankenstein walks x 10-20 total
- Knee Hugs x 10-20 total
- Thigh Stretch x 10-20 total
- Walking Calf stretch x 10-20 total
- Duck Walks Forward x 20-50 ft
- Banded or un-banded lateral lunges x 10 total
- Arm circles x 10 Forward & 10 Backward
- Potentiate
- Start your activity slowly increasing intensity over 10-15 minutes.
- Example - If running – begin your run with a low HR easy pace before getting into tempo or threshold exercises.
- Start your activity slowly increasing intensity over 10-15 minutes.
This routine can be customized to best fit your desired warm-up for the activity in focus. Use this dynamic warm-up as a framework to build out your own R.A.M.P dynamic warmup to help you become a better endurance athlete by improving performance, reducing likely hood of injury, and improving your overall sports recovery.
Warm-Up enhancers
In addition to movements and stretches you can utilize various Recovery tools to help prime your muscles and body for performance. Here are a few Options:
- Foam Roller: Foam rollers can be a fantastic addition to your warm-up routine. They help to get blood into the muscles and flush out any lactic acid that may be built up, helping to reduce soreness and warm the muscles up. A great option is the 321 Strong foam.
- Message Gun: Like Foam rollers, message guns prime the muscle by promoting blood flow and clearing lactic buildup. However, the message gun lets you be more precise with the impact, as it is handheld, allowing you to target specific areas and control the pressure more easily than you can with a fam roller. A great option is the Theragun mini by
- Pre-workout Topicals: Performance topicals help to warm and reduce soreness pre-workout. Look for natural options will no chemicals that naturally help the body warm up through increase blood flow, warming, and pain-relief. A great option is Proheat Cream by Rebound Recovery. This cream is naturally formulated, and precision crafted to help endurance athletes get the most out of their body by helping reduce soreness, pain, and warm the muscles in focus.
Summary:
Overall, dynamic warm-ups are a must for athletes looking to get the most out of their training and reduce their chance of injury. Look to work in 5- 10 minutes of dynamic movements based on the R.A.M.P method to get your body firing before workouts and utilize products, like Rebound Recovery’s Preheat Cream or a foam roller to give you that extra boost!
Thank you for reading and please share your input or questions below!
-Drew Recchia, Founder & CEO Rebound Recovery
