THE BETTER WAY TO WARM UP

Use these five explosive moves to prime your CNS to enhance your workouts.

- ANDREW GUTMAN

IT'S COMMON knowledge that a light jog on the treadmill and a dynamic warmup are must-dos before any training session. But a lesser-known piece to the pretraining puzzle that you're probably missing is CNS priming.

Short for “central nervous system, your CNS is your body's control centre. It acts as the middleman between your brain and your muscles. For example: Let's say you're about to do a back squat-your feet are in place, your hands are gripping the bar, and you're ready to dropdown. To initiate any of these actions, your brain shoots off a signal to your CNS, which orders your muscles and joints to react accordingly.

Like your muscles—which can underperform if they're not well-rested or you didn't warm up properly-your CNS can be fatigued. As a result, you'll feel tired and slow, and your favorite moves may start to feel like a drag, according to Andrew Triana, a trainer to elite-level Strongman competitors and the co-owner of the Performance Vibe (theperformancevibe.com), a fitness community that offers nutrition and performance coaching.

Luckily, we have the power to prepare our CNS to train, Triana says. “When your CNS is excited, or primed, you feel you can flex hard and focus deeply. Imagine it as paving the way for your middleman to hit less traffic and make all the green lights on the way from your brain to the muscular contraction.

Reactive Scoop Toss

SETS: 3 to 6 per side

HOW: You'll want a ball that bounces back for this primer. Set up about a foot from a wall, facing a perpendicular to it and holding the ball at hip level. Swing it back and then, keeping the arc of the ball at hip level, rotate your trunk and release it forward. Let the ball bounce back and then fluidly begin the next rep.