Fitman, owner of the Fitman Performance & Physique Center in Roslyn and a USATF Masters Sprinter, says that a proper warm-up is critical for success as a sprinter.
“The standard issue warm-up that happens on many track teams across high schools in Montgomery County involves the athletes jogging a few lackadaisical laps around the track,” Fitman said. “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 warm-up that prepares you for what you are about to do.”
“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,” Fitman said. “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.”
“The purpose of doing a warm-up specific to sprinting is so that you can properly prepare your body to sprint, improve your sprinting performance, and reduce your risk of getting injured,” Fitman said. “You don’t get warmed up for sprinting by wasting 15 minutes jogging around the track. That’s called fake hustle.”
Fitman notes that there are four types of drills a sprinter should do to prepare to warm-up.
1) Walking Drills
“The walking drills are the easiest of the bunch in terms of physicality,” Fitman said. “But if you are uncoordinated, 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.” “The vast majority of the people that I have trained (including me) have initially looked bad when doing these drills on day 1. But once you have the drills down you will be golden.”
2) Skipping Drills
“Things get interesting when you begin to skip,” Fitman said. “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
“The sprinting drills are the final drills you will do before you begin your sub-maximal sprints,” Fitman said. “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,” Fitman said. “Sub-maximal sprints (75-85% of your maximum speed) do two things: they fine tune your nervous system and they allow you to identify any hidden injuries or pain,” Fitman said. “You might feel good during the warm-up drills but you have no idea about what you have to offer for the workout until you begin to sprint.”
“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.”
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