When starting your workout think RAMP!

Have you ever been working out in the GYM or a class and suddenly you get a shooting pain in the back of the leg, hip, or shoulder?  Ask yourself, did I warm up properly, or at all? A correct warm-up has been proven to increase blood flow and muscle temperature contributing to improved exercise performance and reduced chances of muscular injury(3). A systematic review shows that warming up prior to exercise has significantly reduced injury risk(1) and a subjective self-assessment of physical ability from an aerobic and stretching warmup protocol(3). There is significant evidence to show that a warm-up increases performance(2).

In layman’s terms, a really good way to maximise your warm-up is the acronym RAMP(4). This is a simple way to break down the first few minutes of a workout to ensure you have the best start to your session.

The first part of the acronym is:

Raise – The aim is to increase the body’s response to exercise. We want to increase our heart rate, blood pressure and body temperature, to name a few. The fact is when the body is warmer all the fluids around our body become thinner and flow more easily. Fluids lubricate joints, help move more blood to our muscles, and fluid in our inter-vertebral discs becomes less viscous and allows for the back to flex and extend more easily(6,7). This can be as easy as having a jog on the spot, using the cross trainer or rowing machine. Aim for a 6/10, 10 being a sprint and 2 being a slow walk. You should still be able to talk to your GYM buddy in full sentences.

Activate – This is where the warm-up may need to become more specific. Having a plan of what you’re training will help here as we want to mimic the activity we’re going to be performing. For example: if we’re training our legs, we would do some bodyweight squats, lunges and hip hinges. If you’re training the chest, we would want to do some shoulder presses with light dumbbells and press-ups. What muscles are you exercising? Try some of those exercises at a low to moderate intensity. If you’re doing a full-body workout, then do a bit of everything. 3 sets of 10 done with some intensity will maintain your warmth and activate all the muscles needed.

Mobilise – Once again, this will depend on your training that day. Mobilisation is where some people have trouble. This part of the warm-up is what trainers and coaches call dynamic stretches, eg, a high leg kick, we want to swing our leg forward and back with intensity. The biggest tip here is to make sure you go all the way to the end range of motion, so you kick as high as you can in front and at the back. The same if we stretch the chest, we take the hands as far apart as possible and bring them all the way across the body. Don’t forget the small joints like wrists and ankles! Rolling the ankles will really help those squats!

Potentiate – Now, it’s a complicated word for something really simple. We want to get all our different types of muscle fibres working. Our Type 2 muscle fibres are responsible for producing high amounts of force and are incredibly important when doing resistance training. It has also been shown to help bolster the aerobic system by increasing the number of capillaries in our muscles which supply oxygen to the slow twitch fibres and make us aerobically fitter too!(8). These are conducted by simply doing something fast. For your leg session, do some squat jumps. Squat down as low as you can, count to 5, and then jump as high as you can. The same could be done by throwing a medicine ball or a press-up against a wall.  The volume is very low, you only need 5-8 repetitions of each exercise for this part of the warm-up. This can vary if you play a sport as it can translate to sports-specific movements, so speak to your coach for help in this area.

Some things to consider when warming up. Firstly, avoid long periods of static stretches, that’s the more traditional stretch usually conducted at the end of the workout, where you hold a stretch for 15-30 seconds. Long periods of this may increase the risk of muscle injury and have been proven to inhibit maximal strength(5).  This RAMP warm-up should take no more than 8-10 minutes. It may sound a bit complicated but there is an element of crossover; the mobilise and activate can bleed into the ‘raise’ part, so only really a few minutes of running or cycling. Maybe all you need is a brisk walk from the car or if you’re lucky enough to live close enough, a walk to the GYM may well constitute the ‘R’. The warm-up is the foundation of your workout so you need to ensure that they are solid.

References

(1)Fradkin, A. J., Gabbe, B. J., & Cameron, P. A. (2006). Does warming up prevent injury in sport? Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport, 9(3), 214–220. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsams.2006.03.026

(2)McGowan, C. J., Pyne, D. B., Thompson, K. G., & Rattray, B. (2015). Warm-Up Strategies for Sport and Exercise: Mechanisms and Applications. Sports Medicine, 45(11), 1523–1546. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40279-015-0376-x

(3)Park, H.-K., Jung, M.-K., Park, E., Lee, C.-Y., Jee, Y.-S., Eun, D., Cha, J.-Y., & Yoo, J. (2018). The effect of warm-ups with stretching on the isokinetic moments of collegiate men. Journal of Exercise Rehabilitation, 14(1), 78–82. https://doi.org/10.12965/jer.1835210.605

(4)Jeffreys, I. (2017). RAMP warm-ups: more than simply short-term preparation. ResearchGate; ResearchGate. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/316878902_RAMP_warm-ups_more_than_simply_short-term_preparation#fullTextFileContent

(5)Simic, L., Sarabon, N., & Markovic, G. (2012). Does pre-exercise static stretching inhibit maximal muscular performance? A meta-analytical review. Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports, 23(2), 131–148. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1600-0838.2012.01444.x

(6)Pavan, P. G., Stecco, A., Stern, R., & Stecco, C. (2014). Painful Connections: Densification Versus Fibrosis of Fascia. Current Pain and Headache Reports, 18(8). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11916-014-0441-4

(7)Chan, S. C. W., Ferguson, S. J., & Gantenbein-Ritter, B. (2011). The effects of dynamic loading on the intervertebral disc. European Spine Journal, 20(11), 1796–1812. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00586-011-1827-1

(8)Gliemann, L. (2016). Training for skeletal muscle capillarization: a Janus-faced role of exercise intensity? European Journal of Applied Physiology, 116(8), 1443–1444. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00421-016-3419-6