First, I want to mention that this was not a post about mobility, but only about warm up and acclimation. A mobility run-through is a good general warmup, but I do not ascribe to the believe that it is the only way, nor that it is necessary to start every single session with a mobility drill. You know, I've noticed people rushing through their weight session but doing their full mobility routine! Let's not forget what we came for. If you're short on time, hit the elliptical or something for the general warmup.
The reason I said the last part is because of a common misunderstanding about performance. Performance is very specific and has everything to do with intention. Many people seem to want to protest against any practice that is not seen as applicable to the "real world."
So, we may spend a great deal of time warming up and acclimating toward a maximal lift. Then someone comes along as says something like: "In the real world, you don't have time to warm up and acclimate."
Maybe you'll hear examples about a SWAT team member or soldier needing to perform to his utmost at a moments notice. So people say, if that guy spent all this time warming up and acclimating, his body wouldn't be able to respond fast enough. He needs to train himself to go from zero to sixty in a second flat (so to speak).
Notwithstanding the fact that a statement such as this can never be disproven, or proven, the premise itself is true: The real world is different than the athletic world.
Is it possible to be able to break out in an all out sprint without first warming up and can you do so without injuring yourself? Of course. People do it all the time. Think a cop chasing a suspect, or think of any kid.
Is it possible to lift a very heavy weight without first warming up and acclimating? Yes. Of course it is. And it is possible, to some extent, to teach your body to respond quickly to ANY need.
However, does that cop chasing a suspect pose a threat to a top level sprinter? No. Would a top level sprinter expect to be at his maximum performance without some warm up and preparation? No. Is it possible for the cop to then perform better during a training scenario? Yes.
Same things go for maximum strength. While you may be able to lift a very heavy load in relative safety, with no warmup and acclimation, your maximum ability has to do with your preparation at that point in time. So to perform better, you augment your preparation. The warm up and acclimation is part of this. Why do we do this? Because we want to perform to the best of our ability at any given time, during training or testing. Not the best of our ability given a 'real world scenario.' The best of our ability, period. The heavier the weights you lift on an ongoing basis, the more force your body will learn to exert.
So, the basis of these kinds of beliefs is the familiar problem of false dichotomies. The idea that some people have is that if you "warm up" you will get injured if you ever do anything strenuous without warming up, so you have to either train for athletic performance, or for real world performance, but you cannot have both.
There is absolutely no credible reason to believe that you cannot have both and what people have to realize is that there is a big difference between general physical preparation and specific maximum performance.
