Let’s talk about large group warm ups.
Somewhere in history, coaches told athletes to go take 3 laps, stretch in a circle, then expect them to be fast and powerful by the time the first whistle blows. Unfortunately, despite advances in performance training, warm ups are still butchered both in the gym and before practices/games from a mental, physical and even logistical standpoint. The result? Usually teams that look unorganized and athletes who are not ready to train or play.
Don’t be a coach Hines. Huge Lap Guy.
3 tips for more effective team training warm ups prior to gym sessions.
Set the tone-
Engagement leads to inspiring action. Warm ups in themselves start the process to do just that.
A poor warm up, mentally and physically ultimately can lead to a crappy training session. It’s our job to get athletes to visualize while physically taking in each movement. It’s vital as coaches to consistently coach athletes up on our purpose and goals. Meeting with your team prior to a practice, workout or game to discuss team goals allows us to help our athletes to mentally/physically prepare for what’s to come. These also help with youth athletes who might otherwise bounce off the walls. No need to make these brief meetings extra long or even “cheesy.” Simply getting the team to focus as a group is a lot better than “Ok-go warm up”.
Failing to Prepare, is Preparing to Fail-
The quote every single coach has said themselves. But how often do we fail to prepare in our own lives?
One rule we have at Next Level Rochester is to always be 15 minutes early to each session. This isn’t a complex principle, but those in the know understand how quickly a warm up can fall apart when the warm up isn’t planned and set up.
Quick hacks-
-Write down your warm up
-Write down equipment needed
-Organize so you can see all athletes at once (Lines >> Circles)
Flow
Look at your current warm up. Does it flow well or does it look like a lot of random movements with no purpose to their order.
Without getting into the nitty gritty, a good flow in the gym should go from slow to fast.
Foam Roll-->Static Stretching-->Joint by Joint Mobility-->Activation-->Dynamic Warm up
From a physiological standpoint, this tends to yield high results, but it also helps organize your athletes from a logistical standpoint. While organizing our athletes in lines, we are able to get a lot done on the ground and standing in place. Once our foam rolling, stretching/mobility and activation is done, we are able to fall back into lines for our dynamic integration. Below is an example we use with the Rochester Monarchs.
Athletes tend to overlook the little details that make them high performers. As coaches, we do the same. Little details, such as getting the most out of your warm up, are the small factors that can lead to a team reaching their goals.
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