The standard “sprinter” warm-up that happens on many track teams across the United States involves the athletes jogging a few lackadaisical laps around the track.
If you are doing the typical, jogging warm-up that does not prepare you to actually sprint, you will be leaving your best performances in the closet like a bad suit. You need to do a sprinter warm-up that prepares you for what you are about to do.
Be Specific
Are you about to push heavy weight on the bench press? Then it’s time to get the bench press warmed up with ramp up sets on the bench press. Are you about to put a cold steel bar on your back and get busy in the squat rack? Then it’s time to start doing ramp up sets of squats to get your squat warmed up.
Sprinting follows the same exact protocol. The first thing you will do before you begin a sprinting workout is to warm-up with exercises that are specific to sprinting.
Some of those exercises are:
1) A marches and skips
2) Knee pulls
3) B marches and skips
4) C walks
5) D marches and skips
6) High knees
7) Dynamic stretches
The purpose of doing a warm-up specific to sprinting is so that you can properly prepare your body to sprint and improve your sprinting performance. You don’t get warmed up for sprinting by wasting 15 minutes jogging around the track. That’s called fake hustle.
Sprinter Warm-Up Drills
Before we do sprint workouts at my gym, we warm up with exercises specific to sprinting. They start with walking drills.
1) Walking Drills
The walking drills are the easiest of the bunch in terms of physicality.
But if you are an uncoordinated stiff, you will probably initially struggle to get the timing of the drills right. The hardest part about these walking drills is getting the coordination down between your arms and legs.
Almost everyone I’ve trained (including myself) looked bad on day one doing these drills. But once you have the drills down you will be golden.
2) Skipping Drills
Things get interesting when you begin to skip.
The skipping drills are more difficult than the walking drills because now you are adding some speed to your movements. At first, you will probably feel very uncoordinated during the skips because of the increase in speed. These drills are dynamic in nature and will start to wake up your nervous system.
3) Sprinting Drills
Sprinting drills are the final drills you will do before you begin your sub-maximal sprints. During these sprinting drills you are looking to execute them with crispness and power. The sprinting drills prime your body for the final part of the warm-up.
4) Sub-Maximal Sprints
Before you begin to sprint for real you have to do a few sub-maximal sprints.
Sub-maximal sprints (75-85% speed) do two things: they fine tune your nervous system, and they allow you to identify any hidden injuries or pain. You might feel good during the drills, but you won’t know what you’ve got until you start sprinting.
You will perform 3-5 sub-maximal sprints before you begin your actual workout. The distance of your workout will dictate how long your sub-maximal sprints will be. I typically do these sub-maximal sprints anywhere between 10 and 60 meters based on the workout.
Conclusion
Don’t skimp on your sprinter warm-up, because I’m not coming to see you in the ER if you pull that hammy due to false pride. Trying to sprint without proper preparation is like trying to drive your car with no oil: you will not get far and eventually, you’ll seize up!
I’ll holla at you next time.
The People’s Trainer
Fitman
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