Warm Up


You may be leaving out one of the most important parts of your workout routine… the dreaded “Warm-Up”. 

Yes, it can be boring. 

Yes, it can be tedious. 

And yes, when you skip it you are robbing yourself of reaching your fullest potential during your workout. 

So what’s the key to a good warm up?

The answer to this question could vary depending on what your program for the day looks like… However the outline your warm up should follow, stays pretty consistent regardless what you’re hitting in the gym that day. 

Here’s how to optimally prime your body before hitting the weights:

  1. Self Myofascial Release (SMR)

AKA: foam rolling. Incorporating foam rolling into your warm up routine is a great way to help the body “wake-up”. Foam rolling before a workout can help prime muscles and temporarily increase range of motion, both of these things could help enhance your performance during your workout.

To learn more on the basics of foam rolling, check out this article. 

  1. Mobilize

The mobility portion of your warm-up should be utilized as a chance to improve the usable range of motion at a joint. (This is why SMR can be beneficial before diving into movements.) It is important to note that not all joints need to be mobilized. Some joints, like your knee, are used as stabilizers. Whereas other joints, such as the hips, need to be mobilized. 

By priming your joints properly, you are able to work through a greater range of motion during your workout. Greater range of motion = greater muscle recruitment = greater #gains. 

The following videos demonstrate exercises focused on hip and spinal mobility: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D2OEMOOBSFY 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rb71ZJga3C4 

  1. Activate

Incorporating an activation component into your warm up teaches your body to turn on the right muscles in the right way at the right time. When you skip this step, the likelihood of compensatory movement patterns during your workout increases leaving room for potential injuries. 

Here is a sequence of exercises that are perfect to add in to your warm up following thoracic and hip mobilizations. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B3Vi7RCIXD8

By outlining your warm-up into these three categories, we are making the warm-up process as simple and effective as possible.

Hopefully this has opened your eyes to seeing the importance of why we warm up and can give you some ideas on how to prep for your next workout!

Amy Hunt