Elite Warmup and Preparation

A proper warm-up does a variety of things. It raises your core temperature and wakes up your nervous system, prepares your joints for heavy loading and pre-strengthens your muscles. Gymnasts endure some of the toughest training around and require a carefully developed warm-up program. Jordan Jovtchev’s career has spanned four Olympic cycles and he is still competing at age 32. He is still in great shape and does't require any taping on his joints. What is his secret to staying in Olympic shape for 15 years? One big secret is his meticulously detailed warm-up regimen that he performs before all of his workouts. For the first time ever, he has allowed us to film it in its entirety. This video features over 100 different movements used by Jordan and the US National Team in their preparation.   Jordan demonstrates the full pancake splits. His daily warm-up allows him to do this with ease. His routine uses dynamic compound stretches. In early 2005, I had a chance to witness some