If you are new to powerlifting, you need to know how great champions warm up to improve performance and prevent injury. Often, athletes ignore the warm-up before starting strength training. This can be due to various reasons. But this approach is erroneous, and even if you have a strictly limited class time, you need to find it to warm up. Warming up allows you to develop soft tissues and the musculoskeletal system, improve posture and reduce the risk of injury.
You need about 15 minutes for a quality warm-up and you will probably be able to find this time in any circumstances. The warm-up before strength training in powerlifting begins with soft tissue exercises and ends with exercises that develop joint mobility. After that, you can safely move on to work with weights.
Warm up soft tissues
All exercises described below should be done at a slow pace. To do this, you need a soft foam roller and a tennis ball. This will make your muscles more flexible and stretch better.
Flexor hip muscles
You need to stand on your forearms, and place your upper thigh on a soft roller. Roll the roller slowly from the top of the thigh to the intersection of the muscles, stopping in front of the pelvis.
Quadriceps muscle
Take the starting position, similar to the previous exercise. Move the soft roller to the junction of the muscles with the kneecap.
Fascia lata tendon
It should be warned right away that this exercise is not convenient to perform, but it is very effective. With it, you can relax the tendon located on the outer side of the thigh and the tendon of the fascia lata of the thigh.
Lie crosswise on a soft bolster, just like a board on a swing. In this case, the roller should be located on the outside of the thigh. Using the forearm of the lower hand and the other hand to move the body forward. It is important that the thigh slides along the roller to the kneecap.
The adductor muscle of the thigh
Lie facedown on the ground with your feet so that your inner thigh is facing the ground. The roller should be positioned over the inner thigh of one of the legs. Pull your torso with your hands along the ground, current, so that the inner thigh moves along the roller from the groin to the inner part of the knee joint.
Back muscles
Lie on a roller perpendicular to your torso, sideways and squeeze it under your arm. In this case, the arm should be extended in such a way as if you are floating sidestroke. Roll the roller from the beginning of the attachment of the back muscles to the shoulder blade.
Chest muscles
You need to imagine that your torso is the dial of a clock, and your head is an arrow pointing to twelve o'clock. Raise your left hand towards ten o'clock and lie face down on the ground. In this case, the roller should be located perpendicular to the hand. Rotate the pectoral muscle from where it touches the arm to the nipple area. Then repeat the movement for the other hand, which should point in the direction of two o'clock.
Powerlifting Mobility Exercises
Of course, an athlete does not need to have the flexibility of a gymnast to increase strength. However, this will allow for joint development, which is very important for strength training.
Kneeling stretch
Exercise effect: With this movement, you will be able to flex the rectus femoris muscle and the fascia lata tenor, as well as the hip flexors.
Exercise: Take a half-lunge position. Without moving the back knee, place the foot of that leg on the bench. In this case, the thigh should be pushed forward and the gluteus muscle should be tightened. After ten seconds, begin slowly pivoting on your hip toward your front leg. Repeat the movement for the other leg.
Exercise "Sleeper"
Effect of the exercise: the movement is aimed at increasing the amplitude of rotation of the forearms.
Exercise: Position yourself on the floor so that your shoulder blade is sandwiched between the floor and you. The scapula should be pulled back and down. The arm below begins the movement from an armwrestling position on the ground, with the forearm at right angles to the body and the wrist facing up.
With your upper hand, gently guide your lower arm towards the floor, thereby creating a rotation in the area of the shoulder joint. If you do everything correctly, you will feel the tension on the back of the shoulder located below. In this position, a fifteen-second pause should be made.
Back bridge
Exercise Effect: This is the most effective exercise to warm up the gluteal muscles.
How to perform the exercise: Sit on the ground with your legs bent at the knee joints at approximately a 90 degree angle. Place your feet on the ground. Squeeze your buttocks and start lifting your hips. Do not spread them in the extreme upper position, and then gently lower to the starting position.
If, while performing the movement, you felt movement in the back area, then something was performed incorrectly. You need to try not to use your hamstrings in the movement. Do the exercise 15 repetitions.
Exercise for the ankles against the wall
Exercise effect: allows you to increase the amplitude of the ankle flexion.
Exercise: Position yourself facing the wall. In this case, the big toe should touch the wall. Begin to bend the knee joint until it contacts the wall. Then move your foot two or three centimeters away from the wall and bend the knee joint again. Move your foot back after each movement until your knee joint barely touches the wall. For each leg, do 8 repetitions.
Warm-up champion Dmitry Solovyov in this video:
