Warfighters struggle to achieve and maintain athleticism, in part due to lack of consistently touching deliberate movement. Warmups not only prepare for impending strength and conditioning sessions, they provide touchpoints for enhancing movement competency. Maybe most importantly, warmups serve to maintain momentum when total training is not logistically feasible. 

Build a better warmup by incorporating major movement patterns and their supporting cast of flexibility, mobility, and stability exercises, challenging balance, including enjoyable activities, and elevating the heart rate - all while minimizing rest and maximizing flow. 

Former Army Ranger and Special Operations Human Performance Coach, Nate Palin, offers a reality based approach to coaching the warfighter on how to shoot, move, and communicate more effectively on the front lines and the home front. I reconcile high performance ideals with an often volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous reality faced by the warfighter - so you can focus your effort where it matters most.  

Episode Topics

Warmups provide low barrier opportunities to enhance athleticism, serving as stand alone sessions and gateways to more extensive training sessions. 

“Better” Warmups…

 Include major movement patterns:

• Hinge / Deadlift
• Squat
• Lunge / Step
• Push & Pull Vertically & Horizontally 
• Rotate
• Locomote (Crawl, Walk, March, Skip, Run, Sprint, Swim, Climb, Shuffle, etc.) 
• Core (Generate, Resist, & Transfer force through the mid section) 

Target Weaknesses

• Flexibility
• Mobility
• Stability
• Patterning (dynamic stability) 

Are Enjoyable 

• Novel
• Challenging
• Silly
• Competitive 
• Relevant 

Challenge Balance 

• Single Leg
• 2 or 3 limbs 

Elevate the Heart Rate and Increase Exertion 

Progress (generally) from: 

• Slow to Fast
• Simple to Complex
• General to Specific
• Static to Dynamic
• Stable to Unstable 

Accumulating thorough warmup sessions can move the needle of movement competency, enhancing warfighter positions and rhythm of movement - aka their athleticism. 

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