01/17/14

1.  Squat
275x5; 275x5; 275x5

2a. Swings
200

2b. Chins

2c. Pushups

Notes on New Warmup
Friday night workout. Ran out of time to complete swings.  Squat was good, mostly due to the new warm-up approach.  After small amount of soft tissue and 3-4 stretches that combine hip/glute/thoracic stuff, I do:

4 Rounds:
1a. Swing x 25
1b. Goblet Squat x 5
1c. Windmill x 1
1d. Max contracted glute thrust
1e.  Max contracted side bridge.

This is the best warm-up for squats I've ever done.  I do the swings hardstyle with a deep, exaggerated stretch.  This loosens up the hams and gets my glutes going immediately.  Next, pop into the goblet squat.  By the second round, I'm getting ass to grass. Windmill opens up thoracic and stretches the shoulder and rotators.

The light bulb moment for me was adding in the max contraction glute thrust and side bridge.  I hold each movement for about 5-7 seconds.  What I think I'm doing (my theory) is literally squeezing my hip joints into place.  The dynamic movements beforehand get everything loose.  The contractions "set" my hips and pelvis.

This warmup is the culmination of 15+ months of pounding away at all this shit.  No one on this planet could have ever come up with this and say "Hey JB, this is the exact warmup you need to do."  Its not perfect, and I'll experiment, but the 4 rounds thing is fucking golden.  The entire warmup took about 15 minutes, including the soft tissue and stretches.