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SPORTS MEDICINE CENTER
Dynamic Warm Up:
The Active Athlete’s Top Ten
- Break a Sweat: For 5 to 7 minutes get your heart rate up with a light jog.
- High Knees: Basic running straight ahead while bringing your knees up to at least hip height for 30 seconds. Keep shoulders, hips, knees and ankles facing forward, stay on toes.
- Butt Kicks: Similar to High Knees except that you keep your knees down and kick your heels towards your buns for 30 seconds. It is important to keep your knees down and keep the thigh perpendicular to the ground.
- Side Shuffle: Assume an athletic position with your feet slightly wider than your shoulders, ankles, knees, and hips facing the same direction with your knees slightly bent and up on your toes. Pushing off your right leg, slowly step laterally to the left with your left leg then repeat for 10 to 20 steps and return facing the same direction. Make sure your feet don’t touch or cross, and that your knees/ankles do not roll inward.
- Hip Opener: While walking forward, put your left hand on your left knee and the right hand on your left ankle, then pull both in towards your chest. Take a step and repeat with the other leg. Repeat 15 to 20 times.
- Back Pedal: Run backwards maintaining a slight forward lean (shoulders over toes). With each step backward, reach the leg back as far as you can to help stretch the front of the hip and warm up the back of the hip (sprinting muscles). Keep your ankles and knees in line with each other; don’t let the ankles swing to the outside. 30 seconds.
- Frankenstein March: Keeping your left leg straight, keep it up in front of you as high as you can, trying to touch the fingertips of the opposite arm. Think of marching with a straight leg, this is great for increasing hamstring flexibility. Careful not to slump in your back, keep it as tall as you can. Repeat with other leg. Do 15 to 20 repetitions.
- Walking Lunge: Step forward with you left leg into a lunge position (ankles, knees, hips, and shoulders facing forward, chest up tall). Place your right elbow towards the outer part of your left knee as you lunge down. TECHNIQUE is most critical. Keep the ankles, knees, hips and shoulders facing forward and careful not to let the knee/shin go in front or past the toes.
- Z Run: Run 50% speed forward and backward in a zigzag pattern. 30 seconds zigzag pattern forward, then 30 seconds backwards.
- Star Jump: Assume an athletic position with feet shoulder width apart and ankles & knees facing front, stay on toes. Imagine you are the center of a star with eight rays. Jump out and back to the center, then jump out along the next ray and back to the center. Complete 5 stars. Make sure not to let your knees roll in!
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