⚡️SSL #007 Steal Usain Bolt’s Warm Up

Sep 16, 2022

Today I’m going to share with you how to warm up like a .001% athlete.

This is a topic that might not seem as “sexy” but this could make your training 10-25% more effective.

Unfortunately when people get this wrong, their training feels “weak and slow”, they risk injury and become an under-performer.

Winners Don’t Skip Warm-Ups.

In my conversations with Olympians, I’ve been shocked to find out they warm up for anywhere between 45 to 90 minutes.

Seems like a lot right?

That was way more than I previously thought.

No, don’t worry I’m not saying you need to do the same.

Unless you’re a world-class athlete trying to squeeze out the last .01% of improvement.

Most of us can benefit from a short version of how elite athletes warm-up, if done correctly.

Specifically, I’m going to talk about:

Thermogenesis
Dynamic Stretching
Mechanical Prep
Potentiation
Stride-outs

Let’s dive in.

Step 1. Thermogenesis

Thermogenesis, specifically TEPA is when your body breaks down calories from physical activity and creates heat.

That’s what occurs when our body starts to heat up and sweat at the beginning of our workout. Typically this can be accomplished through a 5-minute jog but it might take longer.

Generally, if it’s colder, if you’re sore, and or if you’re doing a very demanding training session it will take longer.

If you’re on a team, this could just mean showing up earlier to practice, if possible.

This is important because it brings more blood flow to your muscles, allowing them to stretch and contract more effectively.

Step 2. Dynamic Stretching

Dynamic stretching is when you stretch your body through movements instead of static positions.

This is important because then it prepares the body to get into certain positions that will be required later in the training session.

But it’s done after the jog because now there is the blood flow that allows to them to lengthen more, increasing the effectiveness of each stretch.

On the other hand, stretching cold muscles won’t do us many favors.

Target these areas during your dynamic stretching:

hip flexors
shoulders
foot muscles
hamstrings
quads
calves

(Essentially we have to stretch everything haha, just reminding you what some key areas are)

Step 3. Mechanical Prep

This is just a fancy term for doing drills that remind our body what good technique is. It's wise to have this step after the body has heated up and increased its range of motion because now it’s finally ready to get into sprint positions.

This is where you would have your classic sprint drills to focus on any weak points you might be working on. For example inside “Sprint Cheat Codes” I teach athletes to work on posture by doing a classic A-step drill but with their arms up.

This forces you into the correct position that will allow you to strike the ground more powerfully and improve your top speed. Every single thing you do in your warm-up should have a calculated reason, that will transfer to your sprints.

Examples of drills:

A skips
Pogos
Calf Dribbles
Knee Dribbles
Hamstring Dribbles
Wickets

Step 4. Potentiation

We’re getting to the fun stuff now.

Potentiation is the concept that when we perform a highly demanding exercise there is an improvement in performance on the less demanding exercise that comes next.

For example, with one of my clients during his acceleration day, I have him do heavily resisted sprints before doing 30m accelerations with no resistance.

As a result, he tells me that he “feels like he’s flying” on his 30m accelerations.

The reason why is that the heavy load of the sled makes his central nervous system go “hey everyone, get to work because we need all the help we can get”.

Then once he does the 30m accels with no sled, his body is producing more speed because we tricked it into thinking it was going to be more demanding than it really was.

If you don’t have a sled that’s alright you can also do your sprint bounds, use a hill or have a partner hold a resistance band around your waist.

Step 5. Stride-outs

Stride-outs are really simple and here is where begin to actually sprint.

If you’re unfamiliar this is when you begin with a jog and gradually increase the intensity until you are sprinting at the effort you will be using for your workout that day.

Assuming it’s a top-speed session you’ll do your stride-outs until you’re at 100% effort then you begin your main sprints for the session.

For example:

Stride out #1 - 10m sprint @50% effort
Stride out #2 - 10m sprint @60% effort
Stride out #3 10m sprint @70% effort
Stride out #4 10m sprint @80% effort
Stride out #5 10m sprint @90% effort
Stride out #6 10m sprint @95% effort
Stride out #6 10m sprint @100% effort

How many strides it takes will depend on various factors such as how you feel that day, weather, soreness, fatigue levels, etc.

On the other hand, if you’re training for tempo, you might just build up to 80% effort depending on what you’re doing.

I have my athletes typically do between 5-10 stride outs for 10-30 meters depending on where they are in their program.

TL;DR

5-minute jog or longer
full body dynamic stretching
drills to focus on weak points
highly demanding exercise
begin from a jog and progress to full sprinting

Stay Fast,

Cesar

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