by Larry Ging, Perpetua SWEAT Coach
With every class we do in Perpetua we always do a warm up to get everyone ready for the workout. Now that people are at home they may not know how to perform an effective warm up. A good warm up will help improve performance in your training session as well as reduce the risk of injury. Using the RAMP protocol will make sure you’re properly primed for a session.
RAMP stands for:
Raise – Raise core body temperature and promote blood flow to extremities.
Activate – Activate the muscles that will be used in your upcoming session.
Mobilise – Mobilise the main joints that will be used to increase range of motion.
Potentiate – Prime your nervous system for the work you’re about to do. This can be doing lighter sets of a certain movement or bringing your heart rate up to the level you will be working at.
For example, if I was doing a workout that involved some heavy squats, this is what my warm up would look like:
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- Raise – 5-10mins low intensity cardio such as bike, run or row.
- Activate – 3-4 rounds of; 10 air squats, 10 banded RDLs, 10 glute bridges, 10 kang squats. Moving slowly and with purpose.
- Mobilise – 30-40 seconds of the following stretches for 3-4 rounds; inchworm, worlds greatest stretch, calf stretch, quad stretch.
- Potentiate – 3-4 sets of squats at a lighter weight, slowing building up to my working weight.
Apply this protocol to your next session and let me know how you get on!
Larry is a SWEAT Coach at Perpetua. When he’s not pushing us during our workouts in the studio, he works as a firefighter in the Dublin Fire Brigade!
