Ian Jeffreys and the RAMP Warm Up

I first heard of Ian Jeffreys when I bought the book Essentials of Strength Training and Conditioning – 3rd Edition years ago.  I never met the chap personally, but afterwards I Googled his name (doesn’t everybody do this?) only to find he wrote 3 other books!  (More info on Ian Jeffreys can be found here)

For those who’ve heard of the term RAMP, Ian Jeffreys is also a household name when we discussed the whole dynamic warm-up controversy back in 2008!.

In his document, which you can download here, he quotes:

Given the opportunity to use warm-ups as part of the training process and the evidence questioning many current practices in warm-up, it may be prudent to develop a new classification of warm-up phases. This would help remove some of the key “grey areas” of current practice, and also provide a framework around which to build effective warm-ups. In this way the effectiveness of warm-up practices can be evaluated in terms of its effect on performance and its effectiveness as part of the training process. This would be similar to the approach taken by Verstegen* who has re-termed warm-up as movement preparation, which reflects the approach he takes to effective warm-up.

To this end the following “R.A.M.P.” system may provide a method by which warm-up activities can be classified and constructed. This system identifies three key phases of effective warm-ups.

1. Raise
2. Activate and Mobilize
3. Potentiate

It’s a good read and I highly recommend you take a look at it.  It will certainly change your methodology of the classic 4 lap warm-up followed by static stretching!

His other 3 books are:

1. Total Soccer Fitness ( UK readers, click here)
2. Gamespeed: Movement Training for Superior Sports Performance ( UK readers, click here)
3. Coaches’ Guide to Enhancing Recovery in Athletes: A Multidimensional Approach to Developing a "Performance Lifestyle" ( UK readers, click here)

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