Fitness Instructors: Please take the time to film proper warm ups

[laurajhawk]

Originally Posted by Eibhinn

Agree with all said here, although I'm not sure that Squeeze Stronger can be beat when it comes to absolutely ridiculous warm-ups (hyper-fast "use your heaviest weight" deadlifts straight off the bat). Echoing Joni O's very good point, the first time I used Squeeze Stronger I did the upper-body premix and ended up with doms in my hamstrings for several days (and none at all in my upper body) strictly because of the insane warm-up.

LOL, I was thinking about that warm-up when I read this thread. My hamstring CRAMPED horribly the first, and only, time I did that warm-up. After that I did my own with that DVD.

[EnglishIvy]

Originally Posted by Gams

I'm just the opposite - I'd rather not have a long warm up and cool down. I'm perfectly happy doing what I need on my own and having a larger portion of the DVD dedicated to the "meat" of the workout. I feel like I get more bang for my buck that way and I like doing my own thing for the warm up/cool down.

Another vote for this. Long warm-ups bore me to tears and anything over 3-4 minutes gets an automatic skip. I'm a little more tolerant of cool down/stretch but I always do my own basic set of stretches and often will ignore the instructor if they don't get right to it.

[cherimac]

I think warmups and cooldowns are super important. DDVs should include them, IMO, and they should be their own chapter for those who like to do their own thing.

[lselbach]

I think, sometimes, that instructors don't always have a lot of say-so on it. I remember an old interview with Jillian Michaels ,where she discussed her first DVDs - the Biggest Winner workouts. Apparently, the producers said EVERYTHING must fit into a 30 minute timeframe, and the warmup was shortchanged because of this.

[rose2boys]

Yes! Appropriate warm ups & cd/stretches for that actual workout, please!! Also, what happened to stretching out your neck area?

I actually prefer to have a short, but thorough & appropriate, warm up with longer cd/stretches. But, if a warm up is too long for my liking/time constraint, that's where chaptering is great.

[cherimac]

Originally Posted by lselbach

I think, sometimes, that instructors don't always have a lot of say-so on it. I remember an old interview with Jillian Michaels ,where she discussed her first DVDs - the Biggest Winner workouts. Apparently, the producers said EVERYTHING must fit into a 30 minute timeframe, and the warmup was shortchanged because of this.

That was true of Debbie Seibers when she filmed the two Slim Series Express workouts.

[lila_says]

Originally Posted by EnglishIvy

Another vote for this. Long warm-ups bore me to tears and anything over 3-4 minutes gets an automatic skip. I'm a little more tolerant of cool down/stretch but I always do my own basic set of stretches and often will ignore the instructor if they don't get right to it.

I completely agree.

ETA I completely agree with EnglishIvy & others who can't stand lengthy warmups --- I can stretch on my own, I'm using a dvd to work me hard.

[smilesolovely]

Great thread & I totally agree with the initial post. In addition to Cathe I always like Amy Bento's warmups/cd stretch too.

[katmom]

Originally Posted by Gams

I'm just the opposite - I'd rather not have a long warm up and cool down. I'm perfectly happy doing what I need on my own and having a larger portion of the DVD dedicated to the "meat" of the workout. I feel like I get more bang for my buck that way and I like doing my own thing for the warm up/cool down.

The only problem I see with a DVD not including a warmup or cooldown, is if a true beginner purchases the DVD and does not do any warmup or cooldown. The beginner might not know the workout was harder or they were injured because they did not perform a warmup routine. Nor will they know that a cooldown routine can ease some of the muscle soreness and it is better to stretch the muscles while they are warm.

[Laura S.]

Well, with DVD technology, this shouldn't even be a problem. As others have pointed out up-topic, with chapter points, it's easy enough to just skip over the part of the warm-up you don't want to do.

It just drives me crazy when DVD producers don't use the technology. They should be ashamed of themselves. And, I usually know when they don't because I always want a warm up, but don't like really long ones...