While you may feel a teaser is only making you tired before the workout, it is helping you out in three ways.
There are three main reasons why we ask our athletes to do a teaser before a workout:
1. Check for safety and logistic as the class moves around
2. Properly scaled to meet the athletes threshold
3. Ramp up the mind and body for intensity
Safety is our number one concern when it comes to coaching our athletes. This is on our mind whether it is personal training or group training. A teaser reveals to us if athletes have enough space to properly workout without a safety concern. If someone was to accidentally drop a barbell or trip and fall, how much space do they have from the other athletes? This is something we check for during the teaser.
Logistics is how the class moves around and usage of equipment. Do the athletes know which rings to use for themselves? Do the athletes realize there is someone next to them doing pull ups as they are using the target for wall ball shots? Is there a path for the athletes to walk down to get outside and run? During a teaser, coaches are able to see the class move in real time to see what logistical adjustments should be made.
Our requirement as coaches is to meet every athlete where they are. From there, we help the athletes figure out what they should do to help them meet the stimulus of the workout in a safe, efficient and effective manner. We also want to properly challenge the athletes with their abilities. During the teaser, we get to see if the athlete should do what we talked about or make the proper adjustments. Sometimes it reveals the athlete can do a little more than what they expected. Moving with intensity with proper mechanics is what we call threshold training. We aim to get our athletes there because that is where the magic happens. A teaser allows us to make the proper adjustment to get athletes to their threshold before going into the workout. Basically, do the athletes have the right loading or doing the movements that will help them perform and adapt well? If the teaser smoked you out, then maybe you should not do that load or amount of repetitions for that movement.
Before you dive into a pool of intensity, it is good for you to first stick your toe in to get a sense of the intensity you are about to feel. We do it before we jump in a pool, it is the same concept here. We want to give our mind and body a feel on what it is about to experience before it experiences the full workout. Many times, people have said that the first round they feel slow or use it as a build up. That happens when you don't do a teaser. You see all the professional athletes go through a full intense warm up session before their games. The last thing they want is to experience that shock the moment the whistle blows. The same applies to us. We are all athletes and doing a teaser before the workout mentally and physically gets us ready to do our absolute best.
Best Regard,
Josh Melendez
