The last post I did on fitness bootcamp warm up drills was getting pretty long so I decided to move a few over here to this post.
Sprint Warm Up Drill
Planning on doing sprint intervals today? How about a few cone agility runs or maybe you are going to take your bootcamp on a 5km run?
You need to make sure that their muscles are ready for some serious activity. Below is one of my favourite warm ups, feel free to change it at will. All you need are a set of cones set up 10-20m apart.
Phase 1 – Mobility
First, start with getting your clients muscles working through their full range of motion.
- Walking knee hug – Stand on one leg and hug your knee to your chest for one count. Put the leg down and step forward. Repeat with the other leg.
- Walking butt kick – Stand on one leg and pull your heel to your butt for one count. Put the leg down and step forward. Repeat with the other leg.
- Walking ankle grab – Stand on one leg. Lift and internally rotate your other leg. Pull your ankle up for one count. Put the leg down and step forward. Repeat with the other leg.
- Warrior lunge – Focus on stretching through the hip flexors.
Phase 2 – Blood Pumping and Dynamic Movement
Now get the blood moving into the legs and get the heart rate up.
- Jog to the other set of cones and back – x2
- Shuttle run (run forwards there and backpedal back) – x2
- Side shuffle there and back – x1
- Carioca there and back – x2
- Power skips there and back – x2
- Jog at a faster pace to the other set of cones and back – x1
That should take you a good 10-15 minutes to get through and your clients should be thoroughly warmed up.
Another Mobility Warm Up
Improving your clients mobility is one of the best ways to help reduce injury. Running up stairs, plyometrics and regular workouts can cause havoc on an untrained body resulting in strains, sprains and even tears. Prevent them from day one with some good warm ups. I’ve taken a lot of these exercises from the master of mobility, Eric Cressey.
- Yoga Pushups
- Walking Spiderman w/ Overhead Reach (turn your sound down)
- T-Pushups
- Side to side squats
- Repeat 2-3 times more
Mini Games
Play one or all or a combination of these games at the start of your next bootcamp workout to get your clients warmed up.
Knee Tiggy
Warning: Only play this game with clients who have a some common sense. There is a chance of knees contacting in this game and it is not good to wipe your clients out with injuries before you even get to the first bootcamp drill.
The idea of this game is simple. Pair your clients up and have them see who can hit the other persons knees with their hands the most in 2 mins.
Not only is this an awesome ice breaker it also gets you clients really warmed up.
Touch X ‘things’
The awesome name I came up with for this drill pretty much sums it up. You can have your clients do something as simple as ‘touch 10 trees’ or you can make it more complicated by giving them a list of things to do:
- Touch 5 benches
- Touch 3 signs
- Touch 1 barbeque
- Do 5 pushups
- Now repeat without touching anything you haven’t already touched.
Images: Sebastian Mary, mikebaird
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Kyle Wood created Bootcamp Ideas in 2010 when he was hunting around on the internet for workout ideas. He ran a successful bootcamp in Victoria, Australia and spends his spare time managing this site, adventuring (or lazying) with his wife and find new ways to make bootcamps even better.
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