Motor Skill Mastery in The Warm-Up


 

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Motor Skill Mastery in The Warm-Up
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“The brain wants to be able to set up conditions by which it can solve the task in almost any circumstance.” – Michael Mezernich
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Warm-ups can be boring if you let them. Conversely, they can also be the portion of the workout where you provide the most movement variability and psychological engagement.
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A complete training program should not only provide a trainee with adequate movement quality and expression of capacity but also fundamental motor skill mastery. Exposure to variation within the commonly trained movement patterns can serve as a means of psychological stimulation and neurological training.
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I really like incorporating the idea of “pattern practice” into my warm-ups. I always go back to Dan John’s idea of: “If something is important do it everyday” so I look at the warm-up as an opportunity to provide my clients daily exposure to different variations of movements that I value.
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Squat
Split Squat
Push Up
Hinge (Unilateral and Bilateral)
Lateral Squat
Crawl
TGU
Multidirectional Locomotion (Skip, Shuffle, Run, Hop, Jump)
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You could really insert any movement that you value into this segment and continue to progress by providing variation and increasing complexity to the movement as the client improves. New and novel stimuli provide an environment for the client to learn and develop new neural pathways in the brain.
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Often this serves as a convenient time to provide exposure to more novel and unique loading strategies and positions with reduced intensity and volume, providing a non-threatening environment for motor learning at low risk. Following competency here trainees may be able to begin loading these patterns with more intensity or volume in other portions of the training program to develop resiliency.
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What movements do you value that you want your clients to practice daily?