RAMP Up Your Warm Up

Dance

At performance medicine we believe that a thorough and specific warm up is key to being able to perform at your best. It prepares your mind and body for the task ahead and is key in preventing injury. An excellent rounded way to structure your warm up is by using the RAMP principles.

  • RAISE
  • ACTIVATE
  • MOBILISE
  • PREPARE/POTENTIATE

RAISE 

Increase your core body and muscle temperature, increase blood flow and muscle elasticity.

Raise your heart rate for 2 minutes at a moderate intensity, this could look like…

  • Step Touches
  • Squats
  • Walking on tip toes
  • Grapevine
  • Star Jumps
  • Skipping

ACTIVATE

Engage the muscles in preparation for the session ahead.

2 minutes of activating your core muscles as well as those specific to the activity you are about to perform:

  • Tippy bird
  • Crab walks
  • Bridges
  • Plank and plank variations
  • Scapula squeezes
  • Calf Raises

MOBILISE

2 minutes to mobilise the joints in the body especially those that you are about to use heavily, for example the hips in kicking sports, feet and ankles before dancing, and wrists and shoulders before acrobatics/gymnastics or lifting.

This could look like…

  • Leg swings
  • Standing bow and arrow
  • Spiderman Lunges
  • Ankle and Wrist circles
  • Spine rolling and rib circles
  • Squat Walk outs / Squat and UL press
  • Dynamic Multi Directional Lunges

PREPARE/POTENTIATE

Increasing the stress on the body in a way that is specific to your session ahead.

2-3 minutes to prepare your body with role specific activities

  • Running
  • Leaping/Jumping
  • Kicking 
  • Arabesques
  • Balancing on one leg

If you need advice to create a RAMP warm up that is specific to you – ask one of our physiotherapists who can talk through your training and goals to help devise an optimal warm up for you! Click here to book in for Sydney and here for Melbourne!

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