A thorough warm-up is essential for both effective strength-training and effecient intraday recovery...
Light exercise is the best tool for improved recovery in-between hard workouts. Some light jogging, hiking, swimming or easy Parkour followed by a thorough stretching session is perfect. Along those lines, I have decided to put together the most useful and broad-spectrum exercises into a standardized warm-up for our WOD, and this by itself will be an excellent rest-day activity. General calisthenics performed until you raise your core temperature over a wide-range of movement options are an excellent way to flush your body of accumulated toxins. Each exercise should be performed in a rep-range that allows for a raise in body-temperature, heart rate and range-of-motion, without accumulating undue fatigue. Substitutions for each exercise are fine, as everybody has a different level of fitness, so if Dips are too hard, then perhaps try push-ups, or knee push-ups. If 10 is too many, than perform as many as possible within the range of an effective warm-up is concerned. As you fitness improves, your warm-up will mirror this improvement. The standardized warmup will be as follows: 3 Rounds:
15-25 Squats
10-15 Pull-Ups
10-15
pushups 5 Samson Stretch Each Side
Agility Work- Mark a 10-rung ladder on the floor, each rung 12-18 inches apart. Perform the following agility drills as a circuit, repeat 2-3 times:
High Knees, one step per-block
High Knees, two steps per-block
Side-step, two steps per-block
High Knees, backwards, one step per-block
Butt-kicks, one step per-block
Burpee/Quadrapedal Movement- Perform 5-count burpees, one count for each movement, in control. After 3, perform :30-1:00 of random, varied quadrapedal movement. Repeat as needed or as you feel inspired to.
Rest as needed between each exercise, keeping in mind that the goal isn't to kill yourself, but rather to facilitate a raise in core-temperature and improve the pliability of your muscles and connective tissues. If you do this on a rest day, it can be followed by a good session of stretching (issue 3 of the Performance Menu, with an excellent feature on flexibility). If it is before the workout, leave the stretching for the very end of the entire workout session
Used with permission by American Parkour