Perfecting your pre lifting phase
From the minute you walk into the gym to your first working set, there is ample opportunity to improve. From periods of training in commercial gyms I have seen this time wasted by most people. From scrolling on Instagram to pulling your heel to your backside, I’ve seen it all. Make a change, optimize and maximize. Put in place a structure that sets you up for success in your session. Most people are under time constraints so allocating 15 minutes to ensure you are ready to go is a no-brainer. If you train 4 times a week, that’s 60 minutes of good quality work you will have accumulated. Over the course of a year that is 50+ sessions you have optimized versus 50+ sessions you have wasted! There are individual aspects to it also. For example, if someone struggles with finding positions in a certain movement then we can work in more mobility aspects, usually in the patterns section. Mobility is common to see in warmups, but we tend not to put in anything overly static before a strength session. Static stretching before a strength session can in fact have a negative effect on force output. We approach this part of our session with the intention for setting ourselves up for success.
“Fail to prepare, prepare to fail”
We at RTB follow a simple protocol for ensuring we are ready to perform under the bar. We call it our Pre-Lifting Phase. We aim to keep this to 12-15 minutes. We assign an individual pre-lifting phase to each of our lifters. We see this time as our first gains. Even as we are “warming up” as some call it, we are improving and on the road to a having a great session. At the end of this time, we should be primed and ready to go. We should not feel fatigued or beat up. This is a chance to get the head in the game but also to bring the body up to speed with what is about to happen. So, let’s look at the RTB Pre-Lifting Phase.
1) Blood Flow. (3 mins). We want to stimulate as much blood as possible here. Within this section we want to ramp the body temperature so that we are starting to sweat slightly. Depending on the time of year, the time on this section can be extended or reduced. Personal preference and equipment availability will play a big factor here. Whatever you choose, your body should know something is about to go down.
Some of the modalities we like to use are sleds/prowlers, rower, bike, dynamic body weight movements.
2) Bracing. (3 mins). We choose one drill to ensure we are in tune with a strong brace. This time can act as a visualization tool for some athletes as it is slower paced. Make this period very purposeful and focused. Having a good connection with bracing is essential to success in strength training. Coaches will have different approaches to how to achieve this, but it is universally accepted to be strong and rigid through the mid-section. Here at RTB we like to focus on drawing the rib cage down, a posterior tilt of the pelvis and then contracting our obliques, abdominals, glutes and Some of the drills we like to use: 90/90 breathing, hemibridge, adductor squeeze and lift.
3) Patterns. (8 mins). Next, we target specific patterns that will be used in our session. If the main movement of the day is a squat, then we focus our patterns on that. And similarly on the bench and deadlift. Often we will be using a combination of these movements throughout. I like to choose movements that target a specific portion of the lift at an extended range of motion. The specific portion is in relation to the weakest part of the lift for that lifter. So, most people will struggle in the hole of the squat, so we provide a movement that will strengthen that range. It is common to use long tempos in this section to re-enforce positioning in the lift and control throughout. This part of the session is done in a circuit format with high reps of 12-20. This will continue to stimulate blood flow and keep body temperature high.
Some of the movement we like to use: a heel elevated goblet squat, a toe elevated Romanian deadlift, a close grip push up.
Sample Pre-Lifting Phase
1) Blood Flow- Sleds: 30 secs on/ 15 secs off x 4 round. 4 mins
2) Bracing- Adductor Squeeze & Lift: 10 breaths and 10 sec hold on each. 3 mins
3) Patterns- Heels elevated goblet squat x 15, DB Romanian deadlift x 15, Comerford curls x 12 and Copenhagen plank x 20 secs. Amrap for 8 mins
This priming system has led to great success in ensuring our lifters maximize their time in the gym. After 15 minutes a lifter should be ready to smash their session and take the best from it. Did you know that 15 minutes is 1% of you day? Surely, your optimal training is worth 1% of your time. Using this time to get the body up to speed is essential but it will also ensure we are in the right state of mind. With so much going on in everyone life, take this time to ground yourself and be ready to bring your best. Optimizing and maximizing your time in the gym is at the forefront of most people’s minds. The time from your car to the bar can either set you up for failure or set you up for success, what is it going to be?
We would love to hear more on what you do before you start lifting. Shoot us a message or tag us on social media and share the wisdom!
“If you spend too much time warming up, you’ll miss the race. If you don’t warm up at all, you may not finish the race”