Warming up is an important part of any training. It is good to do gross motor movements as well as some sport specific motions to help get your body ready. Many of the drills in this book can be used as a warm-up, but here are a few that primarily fit in this section.
Jumping Jack Variations
Jumping Jacks are a wonderful warm-up because they get the blood flowing and body moving, but don’t require a ton of coordination or skill. It’s very hard for people to hurt themselves with jumping jacks. But… they can get boring if overused. Here are some variations.
One Handed – Just do one hand at a time. It’s not that easy at first. The other hand rests at the side.
Cross Legs – Let the legs alternate crossing in front and behind each other.
Forward and back – This is more confusing. Let the legs alternate forward and backwards instead of side to side.
Combo – Combine the above two to really work on coordination.
Sport Specific Movement – For instance two jumping jacks, then stop and jab punch, and then repeat. Use any motion from your sport.
Soldier and Rocketship – 3 and 4 year olds have trouble with jumping jacks sometimes, so break it down with the two positions and they will be doing it in no time.
Zig Zag Runs
To do this drill I put cones out on either side of the school. Students have to run in a ziz zag pattern to touch all of the cones. This gives them a good amount of running and also lets them work on cutting. At the end I usually place a line of heavy bags and let them kick them while moving.
The key of this drill is what you have them do at each cone. You can disguise a lot of repetition here. They can touch the cone, jump over it, do falling technique, do one move of a form (and then the next move at the next cone), do something like a pushup or situp, spin, etc.
Component Movements
One of our best general warm-ups is also one of the simplest. Students make lines at the back and then do component movements from the various moves that we will be working on. For instance, for sparring we would do the motions for fast kick, back leg, 360, back kick, pada chagie, sparring back kick, and all the doubles. Make sure they don’t do the actual moves, just the first part. For kicking we just worry about having them lift their leg and position their knee properly. This starts off slow, and although they may be explosive in the motions, students shouldn’t get tired. Working on the basic, component movements also lets people think about the technique and teaches them proper body positioning.
Circle Stretching
Go around in a circle and let each student pick one stretch. Or, only let the advanced students pick or keep the stretches in a certain order.