Section 1: Preparation
In an earlier post I outlined the foundational structure of a good performance training program, and split the workout into five sections: Preparation, Power, Strength, Conditioning and Recovery, with different sub-sections within each. Though there is always overlap between the qualities being trained in each section and sub-section, and my nomenclature may differ from others, having a well thought out chronological progression during each helps us maximize the potential for improvements in each quality while reducing the risk of injury.
Soft tissue preparation:
When possible, some sort of soft tissue work should be performed at the beginning of each workout. In a perfect world this is performed by someone trained in sports massage and typically should include a focus on reducing trigger points and/or improving neuromuscular excitability. For those of us who aren’t Gwyneth Paltrow or professional athletes however, self treatment is a realistic substitute. It's your workout anyway, why bother letting someone else do all of the work?
Self Treatment can be performed with tennis or lacrosse balls, foam roll variations, the ‘Back-nobber’ or any other number of tools. I typically will spend about ten minutes with this, trying to address all of the major muscle groups, though a lesser amount of time with a focus on individual problem areas and/or the day’s resistance exercise focus is appropriate as well. Special attention should be paid to trigger points (or ‘knots’), as eliminating them or reducing their intensity will improve the effectiveness of the stretching. Typically pain should be avoided (except maybe some ‘good pain’....) and one should always feel better after the soft tissue prep. Either way, this will ready the tissue for….
Stretching and Mobility:
After the tissue is prepared we move straight into stretching. Typically for purposes of increasing mobility it is better to perform stretching before the tissue is warm, despite the fact that tissue extensibility and acute improvements in muscle length will be greater when tissue temperature is elevated. This is because there is evidence to suggest that stretching a muscle cold will result in longer lasting improvements in flexibility.
There’s a common belief that stretching a cold muscle is dangerous. Though many people will find it more comfortable to stretch a warm muscle (and you get more instantaneous improvements, though they are transient), I have never heard of anyone injuring themselves while performing a controlled, static stretch, and that's what we're after here. Remember, stretching in the absence of pathology should not be painful, and that’s not to say it should be painful in the presence of pathology.
Though there is considerable overlap, and it’s difficult to focus on one element without involving the other, I try and organize the workout with the theoretical objective of focusing on the muscle tissue first as a preparatory movement, and then looking to the joint itself. This can also be thought of as training flexibility, then mobility. For example, in someone needing both greater calf flexibility and talocrual mobility, they will first stretch the calf before moving into an dorsiflexion range of motion (ROM) exercise with the knee bent and the calf on slack (of course now we’re performing a soleus stretch however--I said this was theoretical). It’s really a very loose objective, but having a goal in mind is helpful in programming.
Another reason that I like to do the mobility and flexibility work first is that it improves sensory inputs in the later portions of the workout and allows us to begin to train movements utilizing the now-enhanced ROM. Typically we are only addressing those muscles/joints which are limited or asymmetrical for an individual athlete or for the group in general and for a total volume of 30-90 seconds of tension per area or kinematic movement. Duration of each hold may vary from 5-60 seconds, although typically for increasing tissue length (our goal here), longer is better. During these stretches we’ll frequently consider ways to address multiple qualities during the exercise by attempting some of the following:
adding a second or third plane of motion to each stretch, such as adducting and internally rotating the leg during a hamstring stretch)
adding active motion at a nearby area, such as scapular retraction during shoulder internal rotation, thoracic rotation during a posterior capsule stretch, or glute squeezes during a hip flexor stretch
addressing breathing. Sometimes it’s helpful to have clients count their breathing (2 seconds inhalation, 6 second exhalation) and hold stretches or mobility exercises for a certain number of breaths rather than counting time.
Muscle Activation:
Shirley Sahrmann has influenced my thought process significantly over the past 9-10 years and though the concept of activation is one which many very smart people disagree with, I believe there is a place for this in the programs of many athletes and patients. If someone does not have the volitional ability to contract a muscle in isolation I don’t think it is reasonable to expect all clients lacking that ability to do so in an integrated fashion. This section could include (on an as-needed basis) exercises such as diaphragmatic breathing, low-load movements focusing on lumbopelvic neutral, wall slides as described by Sahrmann to focus on scapular rotation, hip abduction/ext/ER exercises (while preventing accessory hip flexion/trunk motion), PRI AIC, PEC, and BC activation/inhibition exercises etc, and early developmental patterns like rolling.
Movement Preparation/Dynamic Warm-up:
Here we begin to integrate our new mobility and motor control qualities into more dynamic movement, as well as COMPLETELY ELIMINATE ANY REDUCTIONS IN POWER PRODUCTION RESULTING FROM THE STATIC STRETCHING PERFORMED EARLIER. The movements are more athletic that what has come before, but the intensity remains submaximal and power output is generally less and the ground contact times generally longer than what will come later. Lunge variations, wall or agility ladder drills, backpedaling, skipping, shuffling, cariocas and crossovers, crawling, high knees, butt kicks are all appropriate here. Additionally, you may include exercises like sled marching here if the emphasis is on mechanics rather than strength. Generally there should be an emphasis on the skills to be focused on later in the workout (ie, lateral, transverse or sagittal movement). Spend 5-10 minutes here depending on the needs of the athlete and the goals of the workout.
These four sub sections will help ready the client for the 'meat' of the workout, the Power and Strength sections, which have higher neurological and muscular demands. In the next post I'll talk about how we break down our power section into Acceleration, Plyometric and Olympic Lifting sub-sections.