An efficient warm-up is the first thing you can do to improve the performance of any given workout session. When it comes to warm-ups, there are ‘lots of ways to skin a cat’ as it were, in that you can choose from a range of different exercises. Whichever you pick, you should follow the RAMP warm-up principle.

What is a RAMP Warm Up?

A RAMP warm up has four components; raise the heartrate, activate the important muscles groups, mobilise the important structures and joints, and potentiate, which is progressively increasing intensity up to the level of the demands of the session.

The purpose of a warm-up is to prepare you for a training session, not to be the training session itself. Therefore, your warm-up doesn’t need to be long. Aim to do just enough to make you feel ready for your training session, without tiring you out.

Lower Body Powerlifting Warm Up Exercises

Shin Box

The shin box is a great way to mobilise the hips prior to squats or sumo deadlifts to make sure you can hit depth on your squat and open your hips more during sumo deadlifts, allowing you to keep the bar closer to the body, for greater efficiency.

Lying Crossover

This exercise helps to mobilise the glutes and the back, stretching through the glutes, but also twisting the back to get a good stretch down the erectors and the lats.

Side Plank

The side plank is great for priming the shoulder complex and the obliques. This helps with preparing your body for your bench press or the bracing required for any of your big lifts.

Banded Pelvic Tilt

This Fabric Resistance Band exercise improves the squat for two reasons. Firstly, it mobilises the pelvis and the lumber spine for the necessary pelvic tilt required for most people to hit a deep squat. Secondly, it activates and potentiates the glutes to improve their performance in the squat to help you lift better.

Split Squat

The split squat has a similar lower body loading pattern to the back squat, but in a staggered position. This will help if you feel like you shift to one side.

Banded Glute Bridge

This is another good Resistance Band exercise for glute activation and potentiation. It can be particularly beneficial for priming a stronger lockout in the deadlift and squat, given the rule requirements in the sport to have an extended hip joint to be deemed a successfully completed lift. 

Banded Abductor Raise

Like other exercises with a band around the knees, this can help with activating and potentiating performance of the glutes and abductors. However, the unique benefit here is the ability to target one side at a time. This is great if you feel like one side is much weaker than the other.

Bird Dog

The bird dog is a way to progress the dead bug. The smaller base of support by being on your hands and knees rather than your back, which increases stability requirements and thus can be used after your deadbug or as a progression on from it after deadbugs become easy.

Deadbug

The deadbug is a staple in lots of training programmes because it primes the brace required from the core required to deal with heavy loads, whilst dynamic movement occurs at the legs and/or arms.

Single Leg Eccentric Reverse Squat

This exercise works your hip flexors and active hip flexion range of motion in a single leg fashion, which is helpful if you feel like one side is tighter or weaker.

Cossack Squat

The Cossack squat is fantastic for mobilising the hips and adductors relative to the demands of the squat and sumo deadlift. A lot of powerlifters use a wide squat stance and a sumo deadlift, both of which require lots of strength and range of motion from the adductors, making this a great addition to your warm-up.

Reverse Squat

The reverse squat is ideal for activating the hip flexors and working on your active range of motion, relative to the squat position. If you find squatting deep difficult or painful on your hips, these are worth a try.

Remember, the lower body movements are, in most cases, the most important lifts in a powerlifting competition, because that is where the most absolute load is lifted to add to your total. So any positive change you can make to your lower body training, you should try to implement, starting with an efficient and effective warm up!

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Tags: Equipment > Resistance Bands ; Exercise Type > Warm Ups and Cool Downs