We all know by now that warming up properly before an intense workout has many benefits. Whether we are trying to increase blood circulation, body temperature, increase joint ROM, activating or “waking up” muscles and the nervous system etc., etc.

There are tons of videos on youtube  and even specific programs sold just on the topic of How To Warm Up Properly. So today’s blog post and video is not about the best, the newest and the “only way” to warm up it is about 1.) looking at a few considerations that you might not have thought about when designing a pre workout warm up routine and 2.) learning, perhaps, a few new exercise techniques using these the new principles.

Today’s upper body warm up will be centered on the shoulders, the core of the upper body. The exercises chosen primarily work the scapular stabilizers.

Are you familiar or aware that there are 4 types of ROM (Range of Motion) that muscles can contract in? That sounds a little confusing doesn’t it? Now I am sure you have heard of the 3 different types of muscle contractions: concentric, eccentric and isometric but today we are going to talk about the 4 different ranges of motion these muscle contractions can take place in but with specific emphasis on one type of range in today’s post.

The 4 different types of ROM are: 1. Internal, 2. Middle, 3. External and 4. Full range. We are all familiar with at least one of these ROM, full range of motion. Today we will talk about internal range of motion. Achieving good postural alignment by addressing musculoskeletal/neuro-physiological imbalances is something we should all be striving for.   We have all see this photo:

Understanding the proper range of motion to work in is crucial when you want to modify the resting length of a muscle or position of a joint. Let’s look at an example of internal range for elbow flexion during the biceps curl which is from 90 degrees to approx 160 degrees:

When trying to correct posture against all those hours sitting in front of a computer being a desk jockey

too much pressing vs. pulling, poor technique in the gym, lack of stretching the lats, pec minor, sub scap, teres major, etc. using internal range will be a wise choice to help counter balance all the reasons why we have poor thoracic, shoulder girdle and forward head posture. Working the rhomboids major, minor and lower trapezius in the internal range will bring a lot of stability to the upper limb when performing dynamic movements and also help improve the posture by bringing the shoulders back and downward.

So check out the video below, give the exercises a try during your next warm up and feel free to post a comment below or here on my facebook page .  be on the lookout for the next post on a A Super Easy & Effective Lower Body Warm Up You Don’t Know.

To learn about the training techniques in this video and much more please visit my website at http://www.posturalsportsperformance.com , my Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/posturology and my new “Test It Fix It Seminar Series”

Paul Gagné is a Canadian strength coach and Posturologist who has trained many professional and Olympic athletes. He has developed some of the world’s most advanced rehab and injury prevention training protocols, and his work has appeared in many publications such as Golf Digest and Bigger Faster Stronger magazine.

Postural Sports Performance
“Where Exercise Science Meets Creativity”
Paul “McGuyver” Gagne

I can’t tell you all how much of a privilege and honor it was to work with actor and friend Stephen Dorff who plays the character Stavros in the new movie “Immortals” which opens up in theaters today 11-11-11.

This was a quite an experience for Stephen who had never been exposed to the various training methods (internal muscle range training, tabata interval protocols, oscillation and various isometric segmental abdominal training) and training tools we used (ropes, torso burner speed chain).

It does not take a lot of equipment nor time to get a great workout done that not only builds muscle but also sheds bodyfat.  While shooting a film on location you just don’t have a lot of time between “takes” so I had to be creative. Believe it or not sometimes 20 minutes is all we had to get our training in.

When you see the movie Immortals you will understand I also had to keep Stephen’s training very functional. His action scenes were very athletic so I choose to training him in a very similar manner as to how I train my NHL hockey players. The partner resistance training we did kept Stephen’s nervous system always “turned on” as he constantly had to adjust his center of gravity. This is exactly what happens during sporting competitions, the environment is unpredictable and always changing.

To learn about the training techniques in this video and much more please visit my website at http://www.posturalsportsperformance.com , my Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/posturology and my new “Test It Fix It Seminar Series”

Paul Gagné is a Canadian strength coach and Posturologist who has trained many professional and Olympic athletes. He has developed some of the world’s most advanced rehab and injury prevention training protocols, and his work has appeared in many publications such as Golf Digest and Bigger Faster Stronger magazine.

Postural Sports Performance
“Where Exercise Science Meets Creativity”
Paul “McGuyver” Gagne

I hope you all enjoy the article. If you have any specific questions concerning any information in the article or would like to leave feedback please feel free to leave a comment below and I will make sure to answer all your questions.

Almost a month ago I had one of those rare opportunities to have some quality time and get away for a family vacation.

So here is Part 1 of a great routine for maximizing power output & work capacity and at the same has an amazing effect on body re-composition or shedding body fat, not a bad bonus.

Postural Sports Performance
“Where Exercise Science Meets Creativity”
Paul “McGuyver” Gagne

I can’t begin to tell how I excited I am to finally have my website and blog up and running www.posturalsportsperformance.com . I am not a big computer guy, although I am learning, but now having a platform to spread my message and passion for helping people from elite professional athletes, Hollywood stars, CEO’s of companies to the weekend warrior and average “Joe” has me super pumped up.

As you will see this is not going to be about me just showing you great unique innovative ways to train, that is how I was given the nickname McGuyver, but this will be more importantly about educating you.

Postural Sports Performance (PSP) will be about teaching you the many ways that “Exercise Science Meets Creativity”. That is what I am and Postural Sports Performance is all about.

There should ALWAYS be a reason, and let it be based on science, why you do what you do when it comes to your training. Whether it be for injury prevention, sports performance, rehabilitation, more efficient movement patterns (functional training) , fat loss or simply to have fun the postural system is the key.

What exactly is the postural system and what are it’s components?

From here on out this is what I will be teaching you. It is quite complex but I will take it slow, over the next several weeks you will learn that creating and maintaining good postural alignment takes much more than simply stretching tight muscles and strengthening weak muscles.

So for now enjoy this great video of me and my fellow colleagues doing a Beyond Circuit Training or (Radical Energy System) workout at the beautiful Half Moon resort in Jamaica. You will learn how & why it is important to warm up properly before intense training and can give this challenging 20-10 circuit a go yourself.