Posted by 260521 Incorporating an efficient warm up into your strength training program part 3 of 3
Preface to the article
Due to the Covid-19 virus, I was offered the opportunity to take a leave of absence from my school district which is in a hybrid learning situation. Based on many factors, including the most important, that of taking care of our grandchildren while their Dad and my wife are working, I took the leave of absence from my school district.
I am hopeful that come next September and with the vaccine being available I will be back in the weight room with my great students.
260521 Incorporating an efficient warm up into your strength training program part 3 of 3
Simply running in place or pulling your leg behind the back doesn’t cut it this portion of an exercise session. Moreover, it certainly does not prepare your body for any competitive sport at all! The warm up must get the body ready to perform effectively and efficiently at its peak. Doing so requires attention to raising the heart rate, preparing the nervous system, the muscles, tendons, joints and the ligaments that hold it all together.
Skipping Rope
Most of us skipped rope during an earlier time in our lives. But as time went by, we forgot the rope while we hurried about our busy lives. As it so happens, it really was great exercise then and it remains an excellent one today.
The main difference now is that it can be an important part of a physical fitness routine-if practiced diligently. It is great for developing agility and cardiovascular capabilities.
Skipping rope is easy, effective and straightforward. You either skip or you miss, and when you miss, you receive instant feedback. These built in automatic stops keep you from continuing with bad form or technique. On the down side, they provide a break when perhaps one isn’t really needed.
Once you become confident, and coordinated enough, one hundred and twenty skips takes about one minute to complete if done continuously with single hops between each rope hit.
Increase an additional 10-20% to your skip numbers each week. Once at the 500 mark you are better off jumping for time instead of hits. Naturally, if you keep missing and have to stop and start over again the benefits are going to be lower when compared to continuously skipping for five to ten minutes.
As can be felt, this is an excellent exercise to help build up or maintain your agility, balance, coordination, and cardiovascular endurance Additional advantages enter into the picture by providing much needed stress on your bones, which in turn makes them stronger.
After your students become efficient with their rope, start using it during the training sessions by including it into the schedule after each major strength training exercise. Of course, this depends on the purpose of the training session.
If it is purely strength training, then leave the ropes hanging except for the warmup. However if strength and endurance is the goal, then insert the ropes after completing each exercise.
For example, after the squats are finished move to a 2-3 minutes of skipping before starting the next exercise on the schedule.
The Tabata HIIT protocol is another way to use the ropes with a 20-second high intensity period followed immediately by a ten-second rest. Do these for at least five sets, with the goal of finishing eight sets. At the end these eight cycles, your students will have had a tough workout lasting only four minutes.
A less strenuous method of starting out is with a ratio of 1:4 meaning one time segment followed by four time segments of rest. For example, 10 second of high speed skipping with 40 seconds of active rest.
Whatever ratio you use, decide what kind of rest periods you want to use, active or inactive. Some use a complete rest. Some continue at a much slower pace or just walk around the gym.
For the unconditioned person, keep them on this slower pace up until their heart rate is at least 80% of MHR, which means the ratio may or may not be adhered too during the session. After the heart rate gets to 80% start the high-speed jumps again.
Explosivelyfit Strength Training, LLC 