Lower Body Warm Up: Band Routine

Continuing with the previous post on our warm up, I have included some pics and vids of example our band warm up. Here is the schedule of our tasks on this day:
Roll-out/Tennis Ball
Hurdle Mobility- Lateral

Kneeling Psoas
We always incorporate a stretch for the hip flexor complex in hope to get better recruitment of the posterior musculature in the following activation drills.

"Squeeze glute, lean toward knee, Look at hand"

Wall V Stretch
This stretch is great to get a quality stretch of the adductors to really help open up the hips before a lower body session.

"Squeeze glutes, keep toes dorsi-flexed and pointed toward you"

After these stretches we get them set up in lines and give them a band for the specific band warm-up. These exercises are done in a controlled yet higher paced routine.

Straight Leg Lateral Walk x5 ea


"Legs straight, toes forward. Don't Sway"

Straight Leg Forward/Backward x5 ea


"Keep tension on band, don't lean forward"

Monster Walk Forward/Backward x5 ea


"Chest Up, Heel to toe, keep knees out"

Leg External Rotation x10


"Toes forward, Bring back slow, squeeze glutes to pull band!!"

Tall Marching x5 ea


"Stomach tight, Don't Bend at the waist, stay tall"

Dot Drill 4-6 movements 15-20 sec
Plyos
Movement Drills

One of the first comments I got from an athlete after doing this quick and simple routine was "Wow, My legs feel so...Free!" It is not uncommon to see the athletes moving their legs throughout the new found range of motion after activating many dormant muscles. Most of these movements are geared toward activation/strengthening of the glutes and psoas, essential muscles to help stabilize the athlete under loads during a lower body day.

As a promised earlier I have example videos and photos of the specific exercises we do in our Stick Routine. This is the the routine that takes place after our hurdle mobility prior to lower body days. Things to remember on day 1. Make sure you teach them proper position so that they know every time you cue them to get into position what it is. Use your resources to obtain the materials needed. We have PVC, Broomsticks, and cut up poll vaulting poles from the track team. Also use this time to take note of obvious movement patterns or stiff areas that may need attention too. If you notice that a majority of the athletes are having trouble keeping there heels down, maybe some extra ankle mobility work is needed and so forth. Also, if you are running a large group get an athlete with knowledgeable understanding of the drills to lead the counting and reps so that everyone is at the same pace.

ARM PLACEMENT: Place stick across head and place hands so that elbows are at a 90 degree angle. Press overhead with arms straight.



OH Squat w/ band around knees-2x15 sec hold in hole

(My Glutes Are Screaming Right Now!!)

T-Spine Rotations- 1x10 each

"Chest Out, Stomach/Glute tight, Knee Straight"

OH Squat w/ 1 sec pause in hole- X10

"Knees out, Arms straight, Spread floor w/ feet"

1 Legged Good Morning- X10

"Maintain neutral spine, Back leg straight"

OH Lunge W/ Alt Twist- X10 each

"Squeeze glute, knee straight, stomach tight"

Monster Walk- 5 Forward 5 Backward

"Big steps, Heel to Toe, Chest Out"

This is a stretch that we will perform on a box prior to this routine. It really frees up the hips and allows them to get into position much easier. We just set up plyo boxes for after the hurdle routine.

Lunge w/ Ext Rotation- 1x30sec each

"Stay tall, Back Leg Straight"

From here we go to ladder drills and then on to multi-directional speed drills. With the Hurdles, Stick Routine, and Movement Drills, it will take 12-15 minutes. We encourage our athletes to move through all the drills quickly yet under control. This routine does a great job at hitting the wide variety of movements, activation, and stretching that is required to get our athletes prepared for increased performances.

Team Warm Up-Lower Body 2 of 2: Stick Routine

As I clarified in my previous post, there are so many things that are important to address in order to establish quality movement prior to lifting and performance overall. With large groups or teams, utilizing your simple tools can reinforce proper posture and positioning while performing a wide array of movements without the need for constant cueing.

Speaking of cues, it can make you job much easier by teaching the desired position you want them in with the tool that you are using. For example, with the stick warm up, on the first day they performed it we established what we expected them to do during the movements. Basically arms straight, chest out, belly button in, and knee(s) out. So now every time we do this routine and they are told to get in position, they know exactly what that means and it takes care of having to constantly throw out cues. Here is a example of the routine.

Foam Roll
Stretch
Kneeling Psoas stretch 1x30 ea
Wall Adductor/Hamstring-Lie down, V Legs against wall, actively abduct legs
Hurdle Mobility Forward (Paired with Dynamic Stretch)
"Fish Hook"
Lead w/ R/L
Over/Under
"Grab Stick" aka Homemade cut up PVC and Dowels
OH squat w/ long pause in hole 2x15 sec
Kneeling t-spine Rotation x10 each
OH Squat w/ 1 sec pause x10 "Count out loud"
Single leg good mornings x10 ea
OH Lunge w/ twist x10ea
Monster Walk F/B x 5ea
Glute Bridge- x10 w/ 3 sec hold

From here we will again lead into or movement drills and then it is off to the iron game! You may have gotten the indication from the routine that I love counting reps out loud and them doing it in sync. This just avoids guys trying to slack off on a few reps because if they are not in sync with everyone they will stick out pretty easily. Also that these sticks were all homemade. We cut spare dowels, found old broomsticks and PVC that met the dimensions too. This way we were able to obtain more than enough sticks for large groups for nothing more than putting in extra time to make them and searching.

The thing I like most about this routine is that you can identify progress in mobility and keep weekly note of how there movement patterns are improving. Hope this serves as some help And I will have some video up with the two routines early next week which can help give a better picture at the constancy of the warm up and how easy it is to implement.

Team Warm Up-Lower Body 1 of 2: Band Routine

By now, it has been firmly implanted in to many coaches minds that preparation or warm up for weight training is very important. By participating in sports in just the last 10 years, I can personally remember the concept of a warm up transitioning from "take a lap and stretch on your own" to "after foam rolling and corrective stretching were are going into activation and mobility drill."

With all the great research and recent developments that can help athletes correct movement patterns, activate muscles, enhance stability, regain mobility, improve tissue quality...wow, what a list! And you have to put a team of 80 guys through this in less then an hour?...what...15 min?!?!

This is where systems come into play. A system based off primary areas of need in your particular sport. With a system athletes can memorize. Once this occurs so does efficiency. We utilize 4 routines which we can cover all those things listed above in a continuous and sometimes simultaneously which allows us to accomplish more with the time given.

Band Routine-Lower body 1 of 2
Foam Roll-As I have mentioned in previous post, our team takes personal accountability to show up 5-10 min before the scheduled time to foam roll in order for us to get right into our corrective work.
Stretch- Kneeling Lunge, 3-D External Rotators
Hurdle Mobility Lateral- "Fish Hook", R/L, Over/Under all paired with a dynamic stretch.
Mini Bandx5 each
Straight Leg Lateral Walk
Straight Leg Forward
Monster Walk F/B
External rotations (band on knees)
Wide March/Tight March (around foot)

From here we proceed into Med Ball routine and movement drills. This entire routine including med ball and movement drills take 15 minutes. The first day did take a little longer but once it is learned it becomes very efficient. The key to making this work is keeping the pace up. Guys are always building up a great sweat and getting a lot done in the process. Besides the pace of the warm up, I really like the fact that it addresses a wide array of needs important to football players with extra emphasis placed on hip mobility.

Hope this can give some aid to those trying to find ways to quickly and efficiently move athletes through an effective warm up. Be sure to stop by again when I will post the 2nd Lower Body routine: The stick warm up.

Team Warm Up part 2

As I posted earlier in the week the importance of a warm up and activation can not be overlooked. It is also important not to neglect certain aspects of plyo/speed drills such as whether it is later/linear or unilateral/bilateral. Here is an example of a upper body linear emphasis day for our football team.

Upper Body Pre Work
Roll-out/Tennis Ball Massage
Hurdle Mobility-Lateral x2 Each (fish-hook position/up on toes)
Partner Shoulder Stretch- x5 ea (hold 5 sec)
In-Line Lunge- x5 ea (3 sec pause)

Dynamic Warm-up Pryor to Speed
Activation
Side Leg Raises
Clam shells
Glute Brides

Speed/Plyos
Box Jump
Lateral Bound- 1, 2 cut
Power Skip- for Height
Get Ups- Stomach Auditory
Acceleration- Split Stance

This is what we do prior to strength work and should take no longer then 15 min or so. Another thing to keep in mind is to gradually build volume/intensity of exercises. This may serve as a great way to build work capacity as well as we gradually build up the volume.