pre workout routine?

[trucelt]

just curious what guys do to prep themselves for thier session...im not referring to
"i always wear my red beanie and rockout to Nirvana on the way to the gym",i was thinking more along the lines of:

*do you do any cardio (5-10minutes) to get the blood flowing and temp up?
*do you do any foam-rolling?
*do you do any flexibility or mobility work?
*specific warm-up exercises? like rotator cuff work
*if you dont do these things what do you do to warm-up? a few light sets of your first exercise?


Im assuming that guys that train in the early AM require more of this than the evening trainings, also if you are doing some of these did you start because of injury, age, etc

[ch3v3ll3]

20 rolls on foam roller on quads
20 rolls both IT bands
20 rolls hamstrings
10 rolls lower back
15 rolls upper back

Groin/glute stretches 1:30 each

Facepulls 15 reps light weight

Leg swings side to side 20
leg swings front to back 20

Skip SLDL stretch hold until i feel loose

Touch toes hold until I feel loose

10 reps light dumbbell lunges

Finally ready for lower

Upper:
Same rolling stuff
Same SLDLs
Facepulls 15-20 reps
Skip Chest stretch
Dante PVC shoulder stretch 10-15 reps
2.5# rotator cuff swings 20 reps each direction

[Be Prime]

Foam rolling then mobility work.

[Lock it Up]

I am now in the habbit of drinking my pre workout stim drink while doing 5 mins of light cardio on the treadmill just to get my body temp up.

On chest and shoulder days I do this routine:

Broom stick stretch (About 20-30 reps)
Rotator work with bands (usually 2 sets per arm, standard external rotations with elbow parallel to floor)
Some scaption with bands
on chest day, I warm up with light machine flies (couple sets, 20-25 reps)
on shoulder day I warm up with light machine laterals


On back day I just pick a light row and do a few sets with 20 or so reps before getting into my working lifts.

If I am hitting arms I will do rope cable curls, and overhead onbe arm db extensions very light, high reps.

Leg day I simply start out with my working lift, but ramp up the weight. (EX. Hack squats, start with one plate for tons of reps and work up to working weights).

I usually will end my day with about 10mins on the treadmill at a very slow speed. This has been shown to flush lactate faster and reduce soreness during the day (I train mid day, so it helps).

I can see how foam rolling before a session may help, but it always relaxes me when its done...not good for smashing the log. If I foam roll, it's on off days when I am feeling tight.

[barrym1986]

I was actually going to post about this but after reading Lock's reply I figured I would share my own experience.

I do a quick stretch that incorporates my lower back/core and then body parts I will use that day.

Currently I do the same thing as Lock for my upper body day for my shoulders. However, I start with overhead broom stick stretch and then I move to a rotator cuff exercise. If any of you have seen Dorian Yates shoulder exercise for prevention (that whole muscle mag trainer series) where he uses a standing preacher machine, I am here to tell you it has been incredible to my shoulder. Before I started doing these I could not throw a football without my shoulder ripping in pain. After doing these for a month or so I am now destroying it, throwing long bombs and all.

In between my two sets of rotator cuff exercises I do two sets of abs to get warmed up.

[mister69]

For me this is what I do,
Eliptical - 10min
Foam roll
stretch
Rotator stuff
Mobility drills

[trucelt]

awesome replies........have you guys always done this or was it prompted by imjury?

[mister69]

For me it was because I had my 3rd injury.

1- shoulder impingement
2- hip impingment
3- herniated disc

My workout are no longer rushed and I have stretching days instead of sit around days.

[big ross]

Usually nothing, but if I have time and energy do a whole body warm up. Upper body that means one set of really light weight for just about everything (rotator cuff work, lat pull down, lat row, front/lateral dumbbell raise, tricep extension any type works, db curl, a machine fly or push up variation.
Lower body I do some leg swings for the hips, lateral, front, extension, even adduction sometimes.
Personally, I usually hurt the muscle or a body I'm not actually training when I injure myself. Elbow pain during chest work, rhomboid pain during shoulders, tricep pain during upper lat work.
If I do the whole body warm up stuff I usually put up better numbers too.

[theroymccoy]

Stay covered up and warm and do a few light sets or whatever exercise.

For me, doing too much warming up zaps my energy for working sets.

Light stretching. Hanging off a bar and letting my spine "realign" itself preps me pretty good too. I've also noticed my breathing gets better when I do this; being able to suck down more air improves my performance (obviously).

[SkinnyMike42]

For both upper/lower I always stretch my glutes, hams, hip flexors, and my rotator cuff (I do the sleeper stretch, google it).

Then for lower, since my first movement is always a squat, I just jump into the squat rack and do 3 x 10 empty bar good mornings and 3 x 10 empty bar paused, deep squats. Then I start my workout.

For upper, my first movement is always bench. For me, it is important to get my lats warmed up properly, so I do 3x5 neutral grip pullups then I start warming up on the bench with just the bar.

The key for me is the stretching...if I am not properly loose after a 9 hour day sitting in a chair, I have a good chance of getting injured.

[mentalflex]

My rountine is similar to what others have posted:
On my Chest - Shoulder- Tri- Back Width - Back Thickness day I do the broomstick strech, band pulls, rotator cuff work, chest and shoulder presses with elastic bands, triceps extensions with the bands, side laterals with bands and rear delt raises with bands (all done prior to leaving for the gym at my house). Before starting I also start every muscle group with one or two very light sets, then ramp up the weight keeping good form and using a slow controlled tempo, focusing on the contraction. I work up to a weight close to my RP set but only do a few reps to get a good feel for the weight. By now I'm usually warm and have good blood flow I go into my RP set or heavy straight sets.

For my bicep-forearm-calf-hammie-quad day I do a similar routine for my shoulders with the bands (I try to do as much rotator work as possible to keep my shoulders healthy from a past injury), some light curls, then some front lunges and lateral lunges, hip mobility exercises like leg swings and use a similar ramping protocol as my other training day, however after doing biceps, I usually don't require much warming up for my forearms and can usually jump into my heavy sets after 1 or 2 progressively heavier sets.

[DC_catholic315]

upper body days- circuit of face pulls with rope, triceps pressdowns, cable ir/er, cable rows... light wieght 20 reps min/mod res....

leg days 5 min stationary bike it band stretch, adductors, piriformis, hams/lb, and quads pre leg training

light warmup sets before each work set (1-2 unless real heavy like rack deads)

this decision was made after i sustained

1.horrible tendonitis in R elbow (elbow wreckers i mean skull krushers plagues me to this day)
2.pattellar tendonitis in L knee (crappy warm ups on leg days)
3.subacromial inpengement in L shoulder (status post RC weakness)
4.bicipital tendonitis R shoulder (lack of warm up before ego curls in high school)

all these problems were BEFORE i started DC and pre before i hired a trainer to show me the ropes and secondary to crappy warmup techniques... a little cardio will actually help your pump and its a good chance to peep your logbook and get ready for DCstruction, and kinda helps me decompress from work (nursing homes WILL stress you out) and flip the "switch" as wojo says in the dvd. a little warmup goes a long way (espicially for your elbows)

[barrym1986]

I always played sports and therefor I wound up doing some light stretching. However, one night while playing rubby a couple years ago we were doing full contact drills. Needless to say I blew my shoulder up. Of course I kept hitting people after that; along with smashing my shoulder into the ground. After about a month or two of not benching my shoulder felt better. Like an idiot I never saw a doctor. Only a few things made my shoulder feel like someone put a cigarette butt out in it, so I just didn't do them.

Naturally if you can tell I still would bench here and there. A couple of egotistical periods of one rep max benches really brings back that horrible feeling. Along with throwing a football and baseball.

I used the broomstick exercise and it did help me get flexibility back in my arm. Then I saw Dorian do this so I gave it a shot. IMPORTANT PART: I do the shoulder exercises because of the style of lifting DC is. All of the heavy damage it does to your body takes a toll after a while (All out is however, the only way I know how to lift). The stretchs/exercises really help me to gain flexibility, strength and longevity to my shoulder.

I know if I hold my right shoulder while doing the dumbell preacher raises I can feel all kinds of clicking. After doing the preacher rotator cuff's for a few weeks I feel like my shoulder does not click as much and just feels all around more stable.

If I knew any better I would have done these all along if that helps. Now that I have had a minor injury or two I decided to be aware of this for the rest of my body and I strongly recommend injury prevention to everyone.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y86TYYpaMoA

[mister69]

Another thing I do which I believe dante has posted about is long sleeves and long pants tokeep everything warm. Esp on squat days I wear layers and a menthol rub on knees if needed

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