S05E168: Unlocking the Perfect Warm-Up: Elevate CrossFit Performance and Minimize Injuries
Can you truly prevent injuries in high-intensity fitness programs like CrossFit, or is it just a part of the game? Join coaches David Syvertsen @davesy85 and Sam Rhee @bergencosmetic as they offer indispensable advice on navigating the physical and mental challenges of fitness injuries. From categorizing injuries by severity to sharing personal anecdotes, we explore how to maintain your training momentum even when setbacks occur. Discover the power of community support and adaptive strategies to keep your fitness journey on track, no matter the obstacles.
Transitioning into CrossFit from other sports? Your athletic history could either be your greatest asset or your biggest challenge. We discuss the importance of understanding past sports experiences and accumulated injuries, emphasizing how they can impact your current performance. Effective programming and coaching are crucial, and we dissect the differences between good and bad gyms, underscoring the need for a cautious yet positive approach in maintaining a safe environment for all fitness levels. With insights into how CrossFit programming has evolved, we aim to enlighten athletes on the best practices for injury prevention.
Don't underestimate the significance of mobility, warm-ups, and recovery in your fitness routine. Prioritizing these elements can make the difference between a sustainable fitness journey and the risk of recurring injuries. We offer practical advice on integrating mobility into your lifestyle and adjusting workout intensity based on recovery and lifestyle factors. By redefining self-worth beyond gym performance, athletes can achieve long-term fitness success without compromising health. Join us for an engaging discussion that promises to transform your approach to training and recovery.
@crossfitbison @crossfittraining @crossfit @crossfitgames #crossfit #sports #exercise #health #movement #crossfitcoach #agoq #clean #fitness #ItAllStartsHere #CrossFitOpen #CrossFit #CrossFitCommunity @CrossFitAffiliates #supportyourlocalbox #crossfitaffiliate #personalizedfitness
S05E168: Unlocking the Perfect Warm-Up: Elevate CrossFit Performance and Minimize Injuries
TRANSCRIPT
Speaker Names
David SyvertsenHost
00:05
Hey everybody, welcome to the Herd Fit Podcast with Dr Sam Rhee and myself, coach David Syverson. This podcast is aimed at helping anyone and everyone looking to enhance their healthy lifestyle through fitness, nutrition and, most importantly, mindset. All right, welcome back to the Herd Fit Podcast. I am Coach David Syrton. I'm here with my co-host, dr and Coach Sam Marie, and we have an incredibly exciting podcast for you today. It's going to be the highest ratings we've ever had. We're going to talk about warm-ups. We're going to talk about warm-ups as an athlete perspective. We're going to talk about warm-ups as a coach perspective.
00:42
This is really fresh in my head right now because we have two interns right now that are absolutely crushing it, and Keith and Tara. They're doing an awesome job. I knew they would, but it's been even better than I thought it would. How early it is. Like they're only a few weeks in. I'm like I think you guys could go coach the classes now to be honest with you. But you know, I know Liz is working with Tara especially. I'm working with Keith especially on just certain components of the class, like one thing at a time, like literally. The first thing was like hey, write names on the board for the zones correctly. I won't tell anyone that it took 11 minutes for Keith to do the first 6 am class. I promise I won't put that on the podcast. Dude, I still mess up.
Sam RheeCo-host
01:20
I still forget people all the time. People are like, hey, where am I on the whiteboard?
David SyvertsenHost
01:24
I'm like sorry, I know I do too, but the next thing that he's now in of, he just ran his first warm-up for the Friday morning classes the past week. That had handstand push-ups, kettlebells and then clean and jerk. Not an easy class to warm up because it's a part one, part two and there's gymnastics, there's heavy lifting. The squat, clean and jerk is a lot to go over and he did awesome. He crushed it. But I think now that we're sending, they're sending us their warmups. Hey, is this good? Is this good, is this bad? Is this bad? Is this on time? Do I have enough time to even do all this? I really want to touch on this for coaches and athletes alike. Warmups, sam, we just got done.
02:06
Last week's episode was about injury prevention, and part of our warmup thought is prevent what we can within that hour, knowing that there's a lot of different components to an injury, but we do feel it's our responsibility to get people warmed up for the workouts. How much, on average, would you say you think about all right, what can I do to warm these people up? Not, how long does it take you to figure it out? Because it's something you just think about all the time you know there might be a random Monday that you just start thinking about different warmups. So you see an idea somewhere. But how much would you say on a scale of one to 10, did you? Do you think about a warmup and kind of implement things into your classes, 10 being crazy amount, one being I don't care at all.
Sam RheeCo-host
02:45
Very high, like 7, 8, 9. Yeah, because if you're an athlete, have you ever gone into a class, started the workout and just felt cold, like just not ready? It is the worst feeling I hate when that happens and I don't want my, as a coach, my athletes to feel like they get into a workout and they don't feel ready for that workout. And you don't have a lot of time. You have five minutes for your whiteboard talk. You have to finish a class with 10 minutes left. You have five minutes for the athletes to go to the bathroom and like do all their chit chat. So the actual time you have to get an athlete ready for a workout, depending on the workout, is maybe only 15 to 20 minutes and that's not a lot of time to get your warmup in your points of performance, whatever stretching you want to do and get them going, and so that is one of my biggest anxieties and I don't want the same boring warmup, so I probably spend the most time about that part of it every week.
David SyvertsenHost
03:46
Yeah, that's a good way of putting it too. There's just a lot to get done pre-workout at a class like Bison. I know a lot of CrossFit gyms and fitness instructors struggled with this as well, because you really are constrained on time and there's even times you're constrained on equipment. Like sometimes we've had like a class of 30 before. I'm like I don't know if we have 30 PVCs, you know like 26. So I kind of just don't use them when it's really crowded like that. Like there's a lot of logistics that go into warmups and then there's the physical component to it. What would you say is a good warmup?
Sam RheeCo-host
04:22
Subjective I know you feel ready for the workout okay, that's great, that's it so what is a bad warm-up?
David SyvertsenHost
04:28
the antonym to that is I don't feel ready to work out. That's right. So we've talked about warm-ups in our coaches meetings before and this discussion has come up a few times, and I know some big time programs mayhem proven, they do this. Should we mandate a specific warm-up for every single workout, meaning the programmer myself in this scenario? Should I create the warm-up as part of the workout that every coach needs to follow?
Sam RheeCo-host
04:56
yes, you know, I'm just kidding because it would sounds like crap, because it would save me a lot of time. Yes, like a lot of time, but it would exponentially increase the amount of time you would need to program. Yeah, it would save me a lot of time. Yes, like a lot of time, but it would exponentially increase the amount of time you would need to program.
David SyvertsenHost
05:07
Yeah, it would. I'd have to ask for a raise to do that. But here's where I don't like the idea. Other than like yeah, it would be a lot more work, is I like going to different. I've been making a huge effort the past probably six months to go to so many different coaches classes and I like how different people warm up different ways.
05:30
Uh, coach kayla, for example, has like a a training background. Um, has some physical therapist in her. She's not a physical therapist, um, but she has that sports training like they're. I love how intentional she is now. Now they're kind of nerdy, nerded out. She'll talk about muscle groups and everything and she'll have us do some things. I just worked with her the other day for my knees and I'm like I'm not going to like this. And then I felt awesome right after. I feel great right now and I think it's because I worked with Kayla on Friday.
06:01
I steal a lot of her warmups. Yeah, me too. Don't tell her. Hey guys, I thought of this awesome warmup. I've just been doing some research on my own and then Kayla comes to class and I completely change it up on the next. No, just kidding, but you know, even you know Ashley, when she's coaching she likes to like use the warm-up sometimes as like an icebreaker, you know, like she'll like play games, like I'm not a game guy, I'm just. I'm kind of like a boring, old, miserable old man right where I just like to warm up, move my warm-ups. I like to get people moving, wake them up, get some blood flow, then stretch and then go back into the movements and get them moving again. I do like to get the heart rate up.
06:40
Adam Ramsey is very intentional. You could tell he thinks of a new way to warm people up. We did something new the other day and it's not necessarily that it's been better or worse than any other way that he's warmed us up. But you could tell what my favorite part about that class on Wednesday night with him warming up the dumbbell snatch was. It was just he put thought into it because it kind of is easy or really think about it to create a warm-up. It's easy to think about a workout too, but when you don't put thought into it yourself or the worst thing I am going to talk about a bad warm-up in a sec. I just this came to my mind it's just being thoughtful and knowing that, especially if you have a class of 30 people.
07:19
Not everyone's's going to like that kind of a warm-up, so I do like switching it up. Meaning I remember at Hoboken they used to do like broad jumps a lot in warm-ups and some people are like I feel springy, I feel like I'm going to be strong. I hate broad jumps in a warm-up, like it hurts my knees and like I, to the point if you tell the jump on Thursday, I'm not doing them, I'll pull a DeSilvan, I'll just sit on the ground for five minutes or pull an Aaron or Owen and go to the bathroom while we do it, or something like that. But that's something that I think gives another reason why a coach should switch up their approach to warming up, because you're going to have to assume someone in that room does not like today's warmup. It's not helping them feel warm for the workout and that's a tricky thing for a coach.
08:01
But have you ever viewed Sam? A warmup that you put together was a good one because of your bias towards what you like to do, but it probably didn't help out everyone. Have you ever been in that spot before?
Sam RheeCo-host
08:15
A lot and I think the biggest reason is is that I am not a move the heart rate up as much as say, like you are or some other coaches. Right, and I think that's because I mean not to throw Susan under the bus, but she hates getting her heart rate really jacked up before the workout. She wants just to kind of move to the workout and so I try. It's fine. I mean, listen, everyone's different. I want to mobilize people, I want to sort of get people a little bit ready. But I know a lot of times if I worked a little, made my athletes work a little bit harder in the warmup, they'd be a little bit more ready for the workout.
08:58
But I kind of shy away from it because athletes don't like that. I mean Brian DiCarlo for that Wednesday one. He made us do a mini round of the dumbbell snatches and the burpees and he had to apologize. He's like listen, I'm sorry, you should do this, it will get your heart rate, I'll give you plenty of time to rest after before we do the workout. And it was almost like because he knows what the 5, 6 am classes are like. It's like they're almost like staring daggers if you make them do something too hard in the morning and so it's like, and I'm a morning coach so I've kind of shied away from it. But now I feel like you know what, maybe I'm shorting my athletes and I have to be a little more unapologetic and make them warm up a little bit more before the workout.
David SyvertsenHost
09:46
There's definitely an art to it and there's definitely science behind getting your heart rate up before an intense workout. Here's a rule I learned at my level two that made a lot of sense to me the shorter the workout, the longer the warmup needs to be, and in that one meaning shorter workouts are usually high intensity, high heart rate, like you do, like scientifically should be getting the heart rate up a little bit before. You don't need to crush yourself. I still remember back to the day when I was I had my coach Toronto. I skipped my warmup, I got annihilated in the workout and it's because my heart rate jacked up right away and started the workout very intense and it just blew me up and then mentally it just kind of sent where. I think if the heart rate is up before that workout, it just doesn't shock the system, especially early in the morning. But again, like sam said, there is a, an r2 knowing, doing what you think should be done and making the people happy. We they are customers, right, we are serving them, we are there for them. It we are not military hey, do what we say. In some cases you have to be, but that's why I think it's smart for a coach to be a little unpredictable. If I had it my way, I would warm up the classes how I think you should be warmed up every single time, and yet your heart rate would pretty much get up every single time to a pretty high level. I won't do that, don't. But every now and then I will. But I'm also sensitive.
11:02
Here's the other side. I know coaches that will just overstretch before workout and you can make a case. And there are some people out there that say you should not stretch before you work out, period. I don't agree with that and I don't agree with that, and part of it is I think stretching should be part of your physical fitness routine and I know you're not going to do shit at home. So we're going to stretch today and that might be the last time some of you guys stretch until the next time you come in. So that alone makes me say we should stretch. But I do see, coaches, that it's way too much. You know, if you want me to put a number on like 100% of your warmup, right, I think less than half of that should be stretching. Some are 80, 90%, and that's where I think it doesn't actually help you work out, it just makes you feel a little temporarily better, but it doesn't help the workout.
Sam RheeCo-host
11:47
One of my philosophies now is I'm trying to move away from static stretching and move towards more dynamic stretching. I agree, I think static stretching does makes you feel good, but does not help you with your performance, and so I've been trying to think about that. But you're right, it just gets repetitive and boring, and you really have to keep trying to figure out something that engages your class.
David SyvertsenHost
12:07
What are the must-haves in a good warmup? And we just said a good warmup is hey, I feel ready to do this thing, and we have a of interesting workouts this week where I actually think the warmup is pretty important. Um, I think Tuesday the benchmark workout, which is oh wait, I didn't tell you guys yet. Um, wait, no, you know, this is going to air after anyway, but I think the Tuesday warmup for the benchmark is important. Um, I think the Thursday weightlifting one is important and the Friday is a really quick, intense workout. I think those workouts this week are really important. So what are the must-haves in those really important warm-ups?
Sam RheeCo-host
12:43
I always focus on three things Get the body moving first, and I usually try to make it more body weight, if anything, just because it's hard sometimes to try to move real weight.
12:56
The second thing is some sort of dynamic stretch.
12:59
And then the third is always going over your points of performance yeah, for that workout.
13:03
And sometimes it's logistics, like if you have like six movements, like you got to make sure the athletes understand, oh, I'm moving from the wall balls to toes, to bar, over to the sit-ups, and and so if the more complicated a workout is, the more I'm likely to make them do part of it, just so that they can get the flow, especially in a big class, so they're not like bumping into each other or something like that. So if I can sort of hit and it's like I like what you do, because and I'm thinking about doing that it's like sometimes you do some warm-up, dynamic stretching, back to warmup, back to dynamic stretching, fit in a little bit of points of performance, and so you're mixing up all three components and I haven't gotten to the level where I feel super comfortable with that yet. So I'm always kind of more like in a categorical way, going through it, but I don't think there's a wrong way of doing it, but you do have to cover, I think, those three things.
David SyvertsenHost
13:56
Yeah, mine are. Same thing Get the blood flow, meaning move the body. So don't come in and just stretch right away. I hate that. All right, like get them moving.
14:06
Part two is get to the ranges of motion or positions. I should say that they're going to do in the workout and you could do it any way, like if they're doing handstand pushups, like you could just get a barbell, you could do a pike pushup. That's the position. All right, get them in the positions and then this is kind of like the RX Plus, if you have the time, logistically it works is put them through the routine of the workout. Hey guys, like we're doing, fran, 21, 15, 9, pulse, do a 3-2-1. Thrusters, three, two, one. Don't overdo it. You know, like what you're saying.
14:34
Brian really made you guys do and honestly, I probably would have done the same thing. No, it was helpful, yeah, but try to get that the macro level, over all of that. Keep it simple, simpler than you think, and don't if it takes you more than 30 seconds to explain a part of a warmup, you're going way too much. You don't want to create the perfect, impressive, sexy-looking warm-up that takes you three minutes to explain. People don't want that and I've noticed this because I've been watching a lot of classes now, especially on Friday mornings, and you could see the good and bad with this.
15:10
Where I notice and I know I'll say this from a coach I get too wordy, sometimes I over-explain. It's one of the first things I said to Keith on Friday because he's like hey, what did I do wrong at five that I'm going to try to do better at six. And I said just too much talking when you're demoing the clean and jerk and I think coaches will do that with warmups too Like if you're like all right, guys, we're going to warm up for the running today after, and then you're going to go outside, jog a hundred, come back in, give me seven step ups and then repeat the same one, but go a little bit faster this time. But the second run you're going to go 200, like at some point you have to. And that's why I try to almost talk like you're, act like you're talking to a kindergarten class.
15:53
Not any disrespect to athletes, but they're not always solely focused on what you're focused on. A lot of them are just like tell me what to do, where you've been thinking about the warmup, in some cases for four days straight and you thought about the whole trip to the gym. It's like, all right, this is going to be perfect. This is going to line up Like no, no One thing at a time. Be simple, be short, hit those points of performance and then I think that's going to put you in a good position to coach a good warm-up.
Sam RheeCo-host
16:17
I agree, that's one of my tricks I don't tell people to do more than two things at a time. Yeah, you do. It's smart Always Because, first of all, I can't remember it as a coach and two, they can't. Four air squats, six punter kicks. Four air squats, six pun. Otherwise, as an athlete, I can't remember all that. Yeah.
David SyvertsenHost
16:35
And last thing on that. But the thing I've noticed that you do well too is you make everyone do something at least twice. You always do something two times through at least. It could be more. You can go five if you want, but I think the first one is like, okay, see how it feels. The second one is like does it feel a little better? Yes, okay, good, it's getting me going. You know, like if you just do it one time, you don't really know. You want them to have the confidence that, all right, my second round better. My second round of that warmup went better. That should keep carrying over into the workout. That I'm gonna feel better, because we don't expect you to feel good seven minutes into a class for it. Like we really are trying to get you ready for the start of the workout.
Sam RheeCo-host
17:11
I will say Mike Del, do some air squats at the beginning, do some other stuff, come back to the air squats and see how people feel and reassess yes, and sometimes I need to think about doing that as well. Again, that's like RX plus type stuff, but that's always nice to do.
David SyvertsenHost
17:26
Last thing about your warmup athletes. This is going to be more about you. What should an athlete do on their own to warm up? And this is where I am very empathetic towards athletes, that and I want athletes to be empathetic to their coaches too. You guys don't warm up the same way. You don't have the same demands. Laurie Jordan does not need the same thing as Nick Squire, nick Squire does not need the same thing as Manny Gusva, but they're warming up together and you have to try to find the perfect blend of what's going to help all of them at least a little bit, knowing that he would benefit from that. She would benefit from this.
17:58
What do I do? Don't have enough time? If you're an athlete that has physical issues the injury episode last week or you have something that's nagging you right now that doesn't feel good, I can tell you to come in early. I know that's going to go in one ear, out the other for others, but there are some periods in class, including the coach's warm-up, where you could air yourself towards a certain side, meaning, if you have, if I, if my knees really kind of like swollen or in a bad spot and you're having us do certain things and I know I can't do it or hurts, I'll go do my own thing for two minutes.
18:30
A coach really shouldn't get offended by that and but you should have a plan. What do you need to do? Like I have a few certain things I really like to do for my knees before anything intense squatting, and if the coach is not going to put that into the warmup, I need to find a window of time to do that on my own. And what are some things an athlete could do? Some activation stuff, banded work, flossing the joint. What are some things that you see some of your healthier, more consistent I don't want to say better athletes, but in that direction that they do on their own to warm up prior to the class.
Sam RheeCo-host
19:07
Yeah, first is, I agree with you If you're a coach and you see someone doing something different, don't be offended, because it could be totally specific to that person, unless they're someone who just checks out, goes to the bathroom for five minutes, then you're like or they're chatting with other people.
David SyvertsenHost
19:22
Right, yeah, right, right. But they're doing another actual warmup during warmup.
Sam RheeCo-host
19:25
Don't, don't freak out and and I know a lot of people have certain issues and so I don't mind if someone is doing something different. I know I generally know why uh, cause I know my classes. But the but you're right, I think the um, I've seen athletes do fl, range of motion type things. Most of the time. If they're going to do that, they're going to do it before we start doing our actual. Ideally that's the best time to do it. But I try to give athletes at least three to five minutes before we actually do the workout. So if they have to do extra work that they have at least a couple of minutes to do that. Some people really like to go run before running workout, so if they have to do extra work, they have at least a couple minutes to do that.
David SyvertsenHost
20:04
Some people really like to go run before a running workout, so they'll go do another. Some people like to roll out. Some people like to do extra stretching. That's always a good idea to try to give them a few extra minutes on their own. One thing I see a lot of people do that. There's two things actually that stand out in my mind. This is athletes that do a good job with the performance component of CrossFit. They're consistent, day-to-day, week-to-week, month-to-month, year-to-year. They're not nicked up as often. Two things One of them is to get on a machine. When they show up for five minutes to get that initial macro level we said is really important, just get their blood flowing. They're not going hard, they're just moving their body for five minutes straight. You'd be amazed at what that can do to actually just start off your day correctly or your workout, just hopping on a machine. Yeah.
Sam RheeCo-host
20:49
I'm thinking about all the people that do that. They are, they're really good about it, yeah.
David SyvertsenHost
20:52
It helps. Number two I've never seen someone use crossover symmetry on a consistent basis and it not make something better ever, every time. And usually people start using that because something happened. It was a reactive thing and now I could see a Karen McKinney Amy.
21:11
They come in on these days a little early and nothing crazy, by the way five minutes, 10 minutes and they come in and they spend time on that crossover symmetry because they've had issues in the past and within a few weeks the issue is not gone, but it definitely led to less pain and I think it's actually going to help them out down the road. It's like a savings account. Every time they do that, they're depositing money into that savings account so that in 3, 5, 10 years they're going to have less issues or no issues with the shoulder, so that in three, five, 10 years they're going to have less issues or no issues with the shoulder. So if you're someone that has like an upper body issue elbows, wrists, in some cases back shoulders that's something that if you really do dedicate consistent effort to doing prior to the class warmup, I bet you're going to have you're going to see really big results from that.
Sam RheeCo-host
21:59
That's why we installed it in the back, so that people didn't have to pull out the cables every time. They're just sitting there, and I think, if your gym has the ability to set that up, I think it's helped some of our athletes tremendously.
David SyvertsenHost
22:12
And I want to last thing I'll do and then we can wrap this one up is you guys know I've fought with Achilles issues, calf issues, since, honestly, way before I even started, cross it just. I've had a lot of issues there and every now and it still flares up, but again it comes back to I was not taking care of myself the right way, and I do when I really want to get a good muscle scraping session and I go to k wellness and she always does a great job. But you know, sam, whenever I have a running workout with you, I'm scraping my feet. I'm doing it like that. I don't even understand I'm going to be honest with you. I don't even understand the science behind some of it. Hartman has explained it to me, kayla has explained it to me. But when I'm doing that pre-workout I feel different.
22:54
On my first run, like literally, the warm up run feels better than me not doing it and that's like something that I want people to pay attention to. If you're like a person that has issues with running and jumping, if you start taking care of your feet pre-workout, you can call it rolling out, but I really think getting like the specific scraping tool or getting an appointment with Kayla and getting your scraping there. That, to me, should be a part of your warmup routine. Some of that soft tissue work that takes five minutes, 10 minutes. It gets blood flowing, it makes the warmup feel better, so that the warmup actually gets you better, feeling better for the actual workout. That's something that you could do on your own and I think it does make a big difference.
23:35
Last piece of advice from you, sam if someone wanted to up their warmup game but they don't have a tremendous amount of resources, whether it be money, equipment and or time Is there something that, like a new person right here like what should I focus on in my warmup with classes? What can I do to get better at warming up? What would your answer be?
Sam RheeCo-host
23:56
I would say the first thing is what you said about getting here about five minutes early and just warming up on a machine Simplest thing, that is the best thing, okay. The second thing is just really leaning into the warmup. Like I am not always the best when I come to like actually focusing on the warmup, yeah, it's just like whatever the coach is telling me to do. But when I really sit there and say, okay, this warmup is preparing me for the workout, let me really make sure my inchworms are good, my whatever, my punter kicks are really good, I'm not just like going through the motions, but I'm really focused on the muscle groups that I'm working on.
David SyvertsenHost
24:34
Helps me a lot. Yeah, be intentional with your warmup. Be as intentional with your warmup as you are with the class, with the actual work, with your time. If you're performance centered right A lot of you guys want to pursue the best times If you approach warmups with that same level of grit and hustle and dedication, it will make everything better for a long time. That's how I kind of want to end that. Just be really intentional with the warmup. It doesn't need to be fancy, but it does need to be intentional. Be focused, dial in less chatting, less lollygagging, less kind of half effort. Be intentional and I bet it makes your workouts better right away.
25:11
All right, thank you guys, we'll see you next week. Thank you everybody for taking the time out of your day to listen to the Herd Fit Podcast. Be on the lookout for next week's episode.
