RSM-SMM-023
Written by Hironori Ikeda, MSc Sports Medicine
RSM International Academy · Chiang Mai, Thailand
Prepare for Today’s Session, Not a Generic Routine
A runner preparing for fast strides and a lifter preparing for heavy sets need different rehearsals. Feeling warmer or more flexible is useful only in relation to the work that follows.
Start with today’s training plan and any existing restrictions. Choose a comfortable baseline, then add the relevant range, force and speed without turning preparation into a fatiguing test.
This article explains how to select mobility work, use a limited manual-therapy trial when appropriate and decide whether the athlete’s response supports the planned session.
In This Article
- Prepare for Today’s Session, Not a Generic Routine
- In This Article
- 1. Make the Warm-Up Fit the Work Ahead
- 2. Compare the Joint Positions Needed for the Task
- 3. Choose Stretching for a Specific Reason
- 4. Keep Manual Treatment Subordinate to Active Preparation
- 5. Use the Final Rehearsal to Inform Today’s Plan
- Related RSM Clinical Blogs
- Study Sports Medicine Massage at RSM
1. Make the Warm-Up Fit the Work Ahead
Identify the main demand before choosing exercises: repeated acceleration, change of direction, overhead work or heavy loading. Ask how the athlete feels compared with their usual starting state and whether there is any new complaint that requires assessment before training.
Begin with familiar, comfortable movement and move toward the actual task. For running, an easy pace can lead into controlled drills and selected strides; for lifting, rehearsal sets can approach the planned movement and load. These are examples to adapt with the coach, not universal prescriptions.
Warm-up research supports potential performance benefits, but it does not make one routine a guarantee of readiness or injury prevention. Keep the preparation proportionate. If the athlete is becoming fatigued rather than prepared, reconsider the dose before adding another demanding drill.
2. Compare the Joint Positions Needed for the Task
For a runner who reports posterior-thigh stiffness, the hamstrings’ two-joint relationship matters. Hip flexion and knee extension lengthen the biarticular hamstrings, whereas bending the knee changes that demand. Sprinting also requires active control at speed, which a passive range check cannot establish.
Use a comfortable, supported knee-extension comparison and record hip position. Change the hip position for a separate observation while keeping the knee movement slow and unforced. A difference may help choose preparation, but it does not identify whether muscle, neural sensitivity or another structure explains the sensation.
If contact is useful, obtain consent and distinguish superficial skin movement from the posterior-thigh muscle belly and distal tendon. Avoid searching deeply behind the knee for a restriction. Familiar mild stiffness may permit active preparation; sharp or spreading symptoms require reassessment rather than a stronger stretch.
3. Choose Stretching for a Specific Reason
Ask which movement is limited and whether that limitation matters today. More range is not automatically a better result. If a comfortable active rehearsal already provides the needed movement, an additional stretch may have no clear job.
Evidence in healthy active people shows that acute stretching effects depend on the type, dose and surrounding warm-up. Longer static stretching can reduce immediate performance in some settings; subsequent dynamic activity changes the context. This supports thoughtful sequencing rather than banning static stretching.
If a targeted stretch is chosen, return to the original movement at the same range target, tempo and support. Record comfort and control before progressing toward the sport. Do not use a temporary range increase as evidence that an injured structure can accept heavy or fast loading.
4. Keep Manual Treatment Subordinate to Active Preparation
I decide whether a brief manual input leaves enough time to use the resulting movement. For a running session, that means returning to the agreed sequence of easier movement, progressive running drills and the required speed, within the athlete's plan. If comfortable range is already available but active rehearsal is incomplete, I prioritise preparation. A hamstring stretch or massage is not a substitute for practising the task's changing hip and knee demands.
Re-test the same movement with the same support, instructions and repetitions. If comfort changes, report that result directly. If the athlete needs a smaller range or slower pace, record the modified condition rather than calling it an improvement in the original task.
Sports-massage evidence does not establish a direct performance gain. RSM’s practical priority is therefore to return attention to the athlete’s movement: has the useful preparation occurred, or has treatment simply delayed it? Stop the trial if it adds soreness, guarding or unfamiliar symptoms.
5. Use the Final Rehearsal to Inform Today’s Plan
Repeat the baseline with unchanged footwear, surface, range, pace and repetitions before judging the effect of preparation. A later increase in speed or load is a new exposure. Label it separately and remain within the athlete’s existing programme.
If the permitted rehearsal is comfortable and consistent with the athlete’s usual response, the coach can proceed within the agreed plan. If the athlete cannot demonstrate that response, discuss a reduced exposure or further assessment. New focal pain, loss of function or neurological symptoms should interrupt routine progression.
For an athlete returning from injury, even a successful warm-up remains one observation in a shared rehabilitation process. It does not override medical restrictions. Record what was completed, what was not attempted and which question needs the rehabilitation clinician’s input before the next session.
Related RSM Clinical Blogs
Browse all Sports Medicine Massage clinical guides
▷ Pain Is Gone—Can the Athlete Play? Return-to-Sport Criteria — Sports Medicine Massage · Separate training preparation from return-to-sport clearance.
▷ Sharp Hamstring Pain Sprinting: Assessment & Load Progression — Sports Medicine Massage · Understand the different pathway for a sudden sprinting injury.
▷ Sore After Hard Training: Recovery, Sleep & Load — Sports Medicine Massage · Review soreness and recovery before selecting the next session.
Study Sports Medicine Massage at RSM
Develop a reasoned sequence from task selection and functional palpation to active preparation and comparable re-testing. See Sports Medicine Massage — course details.
Prerequisite study is Trigger Point Therapy, Deep Tissue Massage and Dynamic Myofascial Release. Deep Tissue develops precision with tissue layers and regional palpation; Dynamic Myofascial Release connects that contact to movement and tissue relationships. SMM requires prior completion of TPT and DTM together with the required DMR progression; confirm the appropriate paired training with RSM.
See the annual course schedule and contact RSM about your study pathway.
About the Author
Hironori Ikeda, MSc Sports Medicine
Lead instructor at RSM International Academy in Chiang Mai, Thailand. His teaching connects clinical palpation, functional anatomy and movement assessment.