We often get asked what’s the best way to ‘warm up’ before exercising or playing sports. Holding stretches is certainly a thing of the past, and hopefully this is no longer part of people’s warm up routines! But what should you be doing to warm up?
A warm up is basically exactly what it says on the tin – warming up your body! It can be an integral part of your exercise or sport, it certainly doesn’t have to be a totally separate thing.
We’ve found a great way to remember what you should be including in your warm up and it’s called the RAMP principle.
You can follow the RAMP principle for the most effective warm up for your sport or exercise. Here’s Sports Therapist Tom giving a bit of a demo.
R – raise your body temperature and heart rate. Spend 5-10 minutes doing light activity.
A – activate the key muscles involved in the activity. Especially lower back and pelvic area and core stabilisers.
M – mobilise all the joints involved in the sport or activity.
P – potentiate (perform sport specific movements to prepare the body for activity).These would be sub-maximal lifts (weight lifting) or plyometrics (jumping) for example
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