1 Simple Way to Maximize Your Performance

Are you the type of the athlete that shows up to the gym and dives right into your workout? Do you find yourself sluggish at the start but as you complete your 3rd exercise you finally notice that your strength has decided to show up?

Or maybe you’re that person who sits in the dressing room before a hockey game and does nothing until you need to get dressed. Only to find out that the first few shifts of the game are difficult and finally feel like you have your legs halfway through the game?

Want to know how to prevent this feeling and be 100% ready to go right from the start?

DO A PROPER WARM UP!!

To maximize performance, it is imperative to warm-up prior to a workout and even more so a hockey game. When muscles, ligaments and tendons are cold prior to high intensity activities they are at a greater risk of getting strained (muscle and tendon) or sprained (ligament). When we warm-up, we increase the blood flow to our working tissues (muscles, tendons and ligaments). This increase in blood flow raises our body temperature. When the body temperature increases there are many metabolic changes that take place.  The heart rate increases and pumps more blood to the muscles, carrying more oxygen along with it. As the muscles warm-up they use this oxygen at a faster rate. This is important because muscles use oxygen to break down glucose (sugar) and turn it into energy.  The increase in body temperature also causes our nerves to fire at a faster rate.  The faster the nerve signal is sent to the muscles the quicker they contract. Myosin ATPase (an enzyme) speed is also increased when our muscle temperature rises, this enzyme also accounts for faster muscle contractions. When we warm up we not only cause these internal changes to happen, we also improve our range of motion and decrease muscle and joint stiffness.

Just like a good workout program requires structure so does our warm-up. We want to make sure we’re not warming-up too long otherwise fatigue will set in. The warm-up should include movements that closely mimic those of the workout as this will help prepare the body with the upcoming activity. The intensity of the warm-up needs to gradually increase until it is close to the demands of the workout. A warm-up should be at least 5 minutes and last about 15 minutes as this will allow for the tissues to reach their optimal state. The structure of a warm-up should include: mobility, stability, and motor control in all the major joints of the body. To achieve this we need to use:  foam rollers, medicine balls, swiss balls, and rubber bands. This will help target specific muscle groups and improve stability in specific regions.

A proper warm-up allows us to obtain the advantage we need for a better workout by:

• Improved muscle contractions
• Increased oxygen to working muscles
• Faster rate at which nerves fire
• Faster rate at which glucose (sugar) is turned into energy
• Increased range of motion

Make sure you incorporate a good warm-up into your workout next time you go to the gym or before your hockey game. It could be the edge you need!

One more thing, you may not think about it but if you’re dehydrated your performance will suffer tremendously. To learn more check out this article “Do You Know Your Sweat Rate?” and I’ve also added this visual guide for an easy reference.