THE

JOURNAL
Stretch for Optimum Performance—
Before the WOD
The right kind of stretching and warm-up can give you an edge. Gus Patel suggests
both non-specific and specific movements for use prior to your workout.

By Gus Patel Element CrossFit March 2011

All photos courtesy of Gus Patel

Research and experience have established that flexibility and a proper warm-up are essential components of all
sporting fitness.

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Most programs—whether for a college, semi-pro or pro Ask the Experts

athlete—begin with a warm-up and stretching routine In Dr. Melvin Williams’ book Ergogenic Aids in Sport, Dr. B.
before progressing to the main training exercises. To Franks gives an extensive point-form review on warming up:
stretch or not to stretch within this warm-up has been a
controversial question leading to many anecdotal reports • Athletes in high intensity, short duration events such
supporting both views. as weightlifting and shotputting can improve perfor-
mance by warming up
Stretching is often less popular today for a variety of
reasons, the main ones being that research on stretching • Vigorous warming up can decrease performance in
is not as definitive (i.e., physical changes in the body are endurance sports
not always easily apparent from stretching) and has • Direct warm-ups (using activities directly related
additionally produced mixed reviews. or similar to that of the sport) of moderate intensity
and duration before explosive sports enhances the
performance of trained athletes, but not necessarily of
untrained athletes
Adding an additional specific • Indirect warm-ups (using activities not directly related
and non-specific warm-up to the sport, such as cycling and stretching) can often
has proven to be an effective enhance performance if kept at an unstressful level

means to not only prepare • Strenuous, indirect warm-ups can interfere with sports
requiring motor skill
athletes for their sport-
• Selection of a suitable warm-up depends on personal
specific task, but also to help experimentation with various methods.
improve performance. In his book Facts and Fallacies of Fitness, Dr. Mel C. Siff says:
“An active warm-up which includes intense exercises is an
effective means for successfully executing speed-strength
However, what we do know is that although the outward exercises and explosive exercises, in particular. Thus, it
physical changes resulting from properly warming up and was found that women basketball players increased their
stretching are not as apparent, the benefits of a proper jumps from 1.0-4.5 cm; and long jumpers up to 10 cm.
warm-up and stretching program will help to reduce The punching strength of boxers increased an average
injury and, if done correctly, improve athletic performance. of 400-700 Newtons, and the striking time decreased by
I believe athletes can benefit from a non-specific and 0.02-0.04 seconds. It is interesting that, during the rest
specific warm-up to help improve athletic abilities and period between strong and rapid punches, there is no
reduce injury while simultaneously helping meet the need significant relationship, whereas after a warmup, there is
for an increase in range of motion to an appropriate level a moderate correlation. It has often been observed that a
required in all CrossFit fundamental movements. To help 100 m sprint or a 4 x 100 m relay sprint enhances subse-
support that belief, I have done some research that will quent long jump results.”
give some empirical evidence.

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Siff continues: Nevertheless, time and duration are often key factors, as a
proper warm-up should be short and efficient enough to
“Therefore, preliminary work which is similar to the subse-
produce the necessary results without driving an athlete
quent work, diminishes significantly the time taken to
into any sort of muscular fatigue that would be a detriment
complete a given motor task. However, it chiefly enables
to performance in a WOD.
the muscles to withstand a large load without injury and
execute powerful or rapid contractions. The movements Synchronizing Your Breathing With Stretching
included in the warmup should be appropriate for the Using stretching as a preparatory phase for a WOD, dynamic
special exercise, not only in their coordination pattern stretching—along with synchronized breathing—will help
but also in the intensity of the neuromuscular activity. The tune your nervous system, increase kinesthetic awareness
latter circumstance is particularly important for speed- and increase blood flow to the muscles.
strength exercises. In other words, specificity of warm-up,
like specificity of training, is also important.” Athletes should breath at a slightly faster tempo—quickly
once through each position of the stretch. This helps to
stimulate the sympathetic nervous system, enabling
optimal muscle-fiber recruitment.
Using stretching as a
preparatory phase for a WOD, Below are examples of my non-specific and specific
warm-up protocols.
dynamic stretching—
Non-Specific Dynamic Movements
along with synchronized
Warm up 5 minutes with jump rope, Airdyne, rower, light
breathing—will help tune running, etc.
your nervous system, increase Toe Touch
kinesthetic awareness Start with feet double shoulder-width apart.
and increase blood
flow to the muscles.

As for the nature of the warm-up, in Super Training Siff

recommends movements progressively take a joint
through its full range of motion, and he makes two
distinctions:
“A general warm-up uses a wide variety of actions to prepare
the body as a whole for exercise, to increase muscle
temperature and to stimulate the right pre-exercise mood.
A specific warm-up relies on the actual exercises of the
training session performed easily with lighter loads to
provide a highly specific warm-up and neuromuscular
preparatory phase.”
What to take away from all this?
The good news is CrossFit is already helping with training
every joint through full-range-of-motion functional
activities. However, adding an additional specific and
non-specific warm-up has proven to be an effective
means to not only prepare athletes for their sport-specific
task, but also to help improve performance.

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Circle and touch from the left foot, tracing the floor to the Bring one foot to meet your hand.
right foot.

The advanced form of the stretch would be to bring your

elbow to the instep of your foot.

Finish at starting position. Work in each direction.

Move the leg back to the starting position, and repeat with
Spider Crawl the other leg.
Start in a push-up position.

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Forward-and-Back Leg Swings Sumo Squat to Stand

With a hand for support on the wall and feet shoulder-width Standing with your feet approximately double shoulder-
apart, keep the upper body perpendicular to the floor and width apart, grab the insides of your feet with your hands,
swing one leg forward and backward; repeat with the being sure to keep your arms straight.
opposite leg.

Squat as low as possible and hold for a brief moment.

Advanced: don’t use a wall for support. If you aren’t using a wall,
use arms to counterbalance the leg swings.
Side-to-Side Leg Swings
With both hands on the wall and feet shoulder-width
apart, swing one leg from one side to the other.

Stand, keeping your arms straight and hands still touching

your feet; hold briefly at the top.

Be careful not to produce too much force, causing the

supporting foot to lift off the ground.
Advanced: don’t use a wall for support.

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Knee Tuck to V-Sprawl Prone Scorpion

Lying on the ground, tuck your knees to your chest, Lying prone with your hands stretched out and legs straight,
wrapping your arms around your legs. proceed to bring one foot off the ground by bending at
the knee (it should look vaguely like a scorpion’s tail).

Gently roll backward and then briskly forward into a seated

V-sprawl position. From here, reach and touch your foot.
Twisting to the opposite side and bring the leg over to the
opposing arm (as close as possible).

Reverse pattern, rolling back, tucking in your knees, and

rolling backward and forward again.
In the V-sprawl position, reach and touch the opposite foot.
Hold briefly, then reverse the pattern. Continue the same
pattern with the opposite leg.

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Arm Rotations

Continue with this same pattern with the opposite arm.

With your thumb facing the ceiling and arms straight Example WOD: Fran
as much as possible, make a big circular motion—first Specific Warm-Up:
backward for a few repetitions, then forward.
A warm-up set of 3-5 reps of thrusters at a light weight (45
lb.) and pull-ups. If you are worried about doing too many
pull-ups, do jumping pull-ups or use a resistance band.
Then, complete one more set of 3-5 thrusters at the
prescribed weight and pull-ups. Rest briefly, and once you
feel ready, 3-2-1… Go!
When Am I Ready?
People often ask me, “For how long do I warm up or hold
a stretch?” My response is usually, “Stop when it feels right.”
To help explain, I’d like you to take a moment to perform
this basic body-awareness exercise:
For the sake of simplicity in this example, treat the muscle
groups in sections: feet, calves, legs, “lower” and “upper”
abs, lower and upper back (this last one might be easier
to flex by retracting the scapulae), left and right chest, left
and right arm forearm, left and right upper arm, and neck
plus head.

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Simultaneously inhale and gently tense each specific

muscle group for 1-2 seconds. Then relax, exhaling and
releasing the tension from that specific muscle group.
Continue through each of the muscle groups until you’ve
completed all listed parts. Finally, inhale and tense the
entire body (all muscle groups). Then exhale and relax.
This simple exercise helps to demonstrate that through
proper breathing and simple tensing of the muscles, you
can observe in yourself the ability to assess your current
body state. (Hopefully, you’re a little more relaxed after this
particular exercise.) In my opinion, nothing different occurs
when stretching. Rather than hold the dynamic position
for an arbitrary number of seconds, just taking the time to About the Author
focus inward on the body and the specific muscle groups Gus Patel lives in Ontario, Canada, and is interning and
being stretched will be far more effective. training at Element Crossfit. His previous experience includes
If your duration or intensity of the stretch or warm-up in working at the Sherdian College Athletics and Recreation
general has yielded discomfort or tightness afterward, Centre for three years, two of them as the head trainer. As
then chances are you either stretched or warmed up too well, he briefly worked for a year as a trainer at Canadian
intensely or were not breathing properly. CrossFit. Gus’ education includes a certification through the
International Sports Sciences Association, as well as a Crossfit
CrossFit is all about creating body awareness and giving Level 1 Cert. He holds a degree in electronics engineering
athletes the ability to perform in all aspects of life, and with through Southern Alberta Institute of Technology Polytechnic
aid of a proper preparatory phase and recovery phase, I’m and is working toward a degree in business management
hopeful that athletes will experience both a reduction (majoring in accounting and finance) at Ryerson University.
in the risk of injury as well as an improvement in overall He hopes to be able to blend his talents and skills by spreading
performance. his passion for fitness in a career where he can connect, teach
and affect as many people as possible in the future.
F

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