How Should I Warm Up?

 

Many people I observe at the gym seem confused about how to best warm up for their training sessions. I see two different extremes when it comes to warming up. On one hand, some people don’t warm up. These are the people who walk on the gym floor and start banging out their first sets straight from the locker room. Other people in this category hop on a random piece of cardio equipment for 5 minutes before they start to lift. Neither of these approaches adequately prepares the body to perform its best.

On the other hand, some people waste half their workout time warming up. They start by foam rolling nearly every muscle, then move on to 20 different correctives for perceived imbalances or injuries they don’t even have. After this lengthy warmup, they are left with limited time for actual training.

It’s no wonder both of these groups feel weak and beat up; they are never putting themselves in a position to truly be successful during training. These issues could be corrected by following a smarter warmup routine.

A proper warmup accomplishes two goals: it addresses any obvious imbalances or postural issues, and it prepares the body for the work to come in the training session. For most of my clients, this means getting out of tight desk posture and ready to perform a full-body strength training workout. A good warmup is short and to the point. There is no wasted time and everything you do serves a purpose and follows a logical progression.

In this article, I provide a basic framework for a simple, intelligent, and effective warmup. I highlight the 3 body parts most people should target. I include plenty of videos featuring my favorite mobility drills. Many can also be performed in between sets of strength training exercises later in the workout as active rest fillers.

This is not an all-encompassing list but it does hit the most common problem areas. Those of you recovering from specific injuries may choose to incorporate further work on one particular joint or body part. However, don’t go overboard here. If you are so beat up and injured that you can’t train well after a 5-10 minute warmup, you may want to consider visiting a physician or a physical therapist.

Hips

The hips are your source of power and should be one of the body’s most mobile joints. However, for those of you who sit at a desk all day your hips are likely weak and tight in all the wrong areas. A good warmup will activate the glutes and open up space in your hip joint to facilitate movement in different planes.

The warmup should addresses the hips in two steps. First, open up and move through a full range of motion. There are many ways to approach this, and you should pick drills that make sense based on your plan for the training session. Doing a lot of squatting or deadlifting? I like hip rockers as they mimic the bottom position of those lifts. Are you focusing on hip extension movements like swings and hip thrusts? Do a few sets of active hip flexor mobilizations to stretch tight hip flexors. Using single leg exercises? A 90/90 flow helps you move your hips independently. Find which drills feel best to you and mix and match accordingly.

Second, activate the glutes. I love bodyweight glute bridges and single leg bridges and use them in almost every client session. Be sure to also activate the muscles on the side of your butt and hips. My favorite drills to use here are clams, fire hydrants, fire hydrant circles, lying straight leg raise, and lateral band walks.

T-Spine

The thoracic spine is the portion of your spine between your neck and lower back to which your ribcage is attached. Unlike the cervical (neck) and lumbar (lower back) spines, the thoracic spine is supposed to be highly mobile. We need to be able to both extend and rotate through the t-spine in order to facilitate proper breathing as well as movement of the arms and shoulders.

If you sit hunched in front of a desk all day, you need to open up your t-spine before you train. I also find people with shoulder pain have especially limited thoracic spine mobility. If your shoulder bugs you during training or you have trouble getting your arms overhead, make t-spine mobility a priority during your warmups.

I recommend inhaling as you extend or rotating and exhaling as you relax.

Shoulders

After you have warmed up your thoracic spine, you are ready to warm up your shoulders. This is actually a bit misleading because a proper shoulder warmup isn’t specifically targeting the deltoid muscle. Rather, your shoulder warmups should activate your external rotators – think the muscles of your upper back and the back of your shoulders – and get the shoulder blades moving properly.

I love using high rep band work sets in my warmups on upper body workouts. Be sure you resist excessive arching of your back during these drills. You should be able to complete them all with a relatively neutral spine.

Putting it All Together

A good warmup should follow the neurodevelopmental sequence. This means you begin on the floor and progress through quadruped (all fours), crawling, half kneeling, and tall kneeling positions before finally arriving to standing and gait (walking).

Most of the drills we have seen thus far occur on the floor. I recommend finishing your warmup with 1-3 crawling, standing, or gait drills that force you to use your body as a whole unit. Again, pick drills that prepare you for the workout you are about to perform. The squat-to-stand is a great drill to perform on lower body day. If you are going to be doing a lot of pressing, inchworms or bear crawls are a good option. Get creative and get your whole body moving.

 

Now you have a simple framework for a warmup that prepares you to train without wasting time. Pick 1-3 exercises from each category (hips, t-spine, shoulders, and full body) and perform 1-2 sets of 8-15 reps. Feel free to do a bit of foam rolling at first, but if you need more than a couple minutes this is better left to the end of your workout as part of your cooldown.

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