RAMP up your Warm-ups

HOW TO STRUCTURE YOUR WARM-UPS TO IMPROVE PERFORMANCE

The goal of a warm-up is to mentally and physically prepare yourself for exercise or competition. A well designed warm-up will have a positive effect on your performance. View your warm-up as “performance preparation,” helping you perform maximally in the workout or competition to follow. In this article I will outline the proper steps your next warm-up should follow to best prepare for the task at hand.

HOW TO PERFORM A PROPER WARM-UP

Time spent warming up depends on the demands of the training or competition to follow so in certain phases the exercises selected need to be strategically planned.

While we want warm-ups to be short, our warm-ups offer a lot of time to develop skills, progressions, and better prepare for the task at hand. It is important to structure warm ups effectively in order to maximize the return on the time invested. That is what the RAMP protocol is for!

The “RAMP” protocol was developed by Dr. Ian Jeffreys and has helped to advance current performance preparation practices in all sports/activities. “RAMP” can be broken down into the following sequence:

1. Raise
2. Activate
3. Mobilize
4. Potentiate/Performance

PHASE 1 – RAISE

The aim of the “Raise” phase is to:

• Increase Body temperature
• Increase Heart rate
• Increase Respiration rate
• Increase Blood flow
• and increase Joint viscosity

It is still common practice to run a few laps around the field or do some burpees as part of your warm-up, however, this can be a waste of valuable training time and can increase your risk of injury. This time warming up would be better spent performing relevant movement skills, progressions, and/or broken down sports specific skills.

PHASE 2 & 3 – ACTIVATE & MOBILIZE

The principles/aims of this phase of the warm-up is two-fold:

• Activate & engage key muscle groups
• Mobilize key joints involved in training/competition

It is wise to include activation elements depending on your personal needs that day and the task at hand. Key muscle groups should be targeted for stimulation during this phase using specific prehab style exercises. It’s always best to shy away from a traditional static stretching and move more towards a more dynamic mobility approach. 

PHASE 3 – POTENTIATE

The aim of this phase is to finally “prime” the body for its upcoming session or competition.

This phase serves two primary objectives:

• Increase Intensity to a level close to what you’re about to compete in.
• Improve performance by utilizing the effects of post-activation potentiation

This phase contains more sport/activity-specific activities (ex. high intensity drilling or full ROM skill work) that gradually increases in intensity. For example, if an athlete was priming for a sprint session, the potentiation phase of their warm up may include some plyometrics, sprint drills, and appropriate movements of increasing intensity. 

CONCLUSION

The “RAMP” approach provides a framework for the construction of an effective warm-up. The aim of your warm-up is to prepare yourself for performance without the development of undue fatigue.

REFERENCES

1. Hoffman J Physiological Aspects of Sports Performance and Training. Champaign Ill: Human Kinetics 2002
2. McArdle WD, Katch Fi and Katch VL. Exercise Physiology: Energy, Nutrition and Human Performance (Fifth Ed) Baltimore: Lippincott Williams ansd Wilkins 2001.
3. Enoka, RM. Neuromechanics of Human Movement. Champaign Ill: Human Kinetics 2002.
4. Jeffreys, Ian. (2007). Jeffreys I (2007) Warm-up revisited: The ramp method of optimizing warm-ups. Professional Strength and Conditioning. (6) 12-18. Professional Strength and Conditioning. 12-18.