The goal of your general warm-up is to elevate the heart rate, warm the joints and body and prepare your body for exercise. We can do this in a number of different ways. Typically your warm-up should take around 10 minutes in order to properly prepare your body for your workout. Don’t gauge your warm-up based on how difficult or strenuous it is – save that for the workout.
Elevate the Heart Rate
First we start with elevating the heart rate and warming the body. We can accomplish this by starting out with a 2-4 minute cardio activity (i.e. running a 400m, riding a bike, rowing, jump rope etc.). If you don’t have a bike, rower or maybe its raining we can go through some 30-40 second stations of different movements to get warm (i.e. jumping jacks, high knees in place, butt kickers etc.)
Mobilize the Body
Once we get our heart rate and body temperature up we can move into doing some mobility work specific to our workout of the day.
Mobility Exercises for Lower Body:
- Active spiderman
- Active samson
- Toy soldiers
- Pigeon pose
- Couch stretch
- Calf stretch
Mobility Exercises for Back/Core:
- Cat/cow stretch
- Torso twists
- Lying superman
- Planks
- Hollow hold/hollow rocks
Mobility Exercises for Shoulders:
- Childs pose
- Front rack stretch
- Arm circles forward/backward
- Crossbody arm swings
Prepare for the Workout by Practicing the Movements
Finally, depending on what type of workout we are doing that day we will go through and practice our movements.
Whenever we are starting to practice the movements we will be performing it is best to move through the progressions that lead up to the entire movement with a moderate/light weight prior to getting to your workout weight. Here are some examples:
The Dumbbell Power Snatch: Begin by performing 5 dumbbell deadlifts per arm, followed by 5 dumbbell shrugs per arm, the 5 dumbbell high pulls per arm and finally finishing with 5 dumbbell power snatches.
The Thruster: Begin by doing 5 squats with your choice of equipment, 5 strict press, 5 push press and finally 5 thrusters.
Warm-Up to a Successful Workout
Points to remember when creating your warm-up:
- Elevate your heart rate!!
- Make sure your body is warm and ready to move
- Do some mobility specific to what you are going to be working on that day
- Practice the movement at a lighter load and lesser intensity before your workout!
As always reach out to a coach if you have specific questions or need help building your warm-up that day.
