Category Archives: Warm Up Routines

Below you are receiving a complete total body dynamic warm up that can be used for resistance training. I included videos to demonstrate the exercises, and at the end of the post listed them out “on paper” so you can take the sheet to the gym with you. This warm up should do wonders for you if you’re one of those people that just walks into the gym and heads to the treadmill or starts using weights right away. Whether you’re a runner, tennis player, power-lifter, or just an average person working out, you are missing out and increasing your chance of injury if you do not include a dynamic warm up before you train.

For optimal benefit, this and all warm ups should be preceded by soft tissue work. In other words, self myofascial release with things like foam rollers, the stick, tennis balls, lacrosse balls etc. work great.

But why should I do soft tissue mobilization before this or any warm up?

Adhesions, fascial trigger points, and scar tissue accumulate over time, decrease your range of motion and can cause injury and pain. Even though stretching can help restore blood flow and therefore help release trigger points, it will not improve soft tissue quality like specific soft tissue mobilization will. Self myofascial release techniques (self massage) like foam rolling will help you release “hot spots” and make it more possible to help increase your range of motion when you actually do decide to do some stretching.

WHAT DOES A DYNAMIC WARM UP DO?

1. Improves tissue quality (soft tissue mobilization)
2. Increases elasticity and mobility of the major muscle groups, tendons, ligaments and joint structures. This also allows for better range of motion during training.
3. Produces muscle activation.
4. Prepares you for your workout ahead.
5. Increases coordination and motor control.
6. Allows you to work on some asymmetries, postural imbalances or anything of need etc.
7. Raises body temperature, heart rate, respiratory rate, and also oxygen and blood flow to muscle

Lets get to the warm up already. All the exercises are listed in order below.

YOUR TOTAL BODY WARM UP

Stretching/Mobility/Activations

Lyine Supine:

Prone/Plank Position:

Kneeling and half Kneeling:

Transfers/Standing:

Once you know the exercises, here it is on paper with the reps/duration mapped out for you so you can take it wherever you would like…

Stretching/Mobility/Activations

Lyine Supine:

• Lying Alternating Knee Hugs (1×6/side)
• Lying Knee to Knee Mobilization (1×8)
• Leg Lowering Progression (1×10/side)
• Hip Lift Progression (1×6/side)

Prone/Plank Position:

• Extended Plank w /Hip Flexion (1×8/side)

Kneeling and half Kneeling:

• Hip Flexor Stretch  (1×15 seconds/side)
• Adductor Hip Rocking Stretch (1×5)
• Half Kneeling Ankle Mobility w/Pole  (1×8/side)
• T-Spine Extension/Rotation Progression (1×8/side)

Transfers/Standing:

• Shoulder Dislocates w/band (1×5) to Arm Swings (1×5)
• Bear Crawls Forwards/Backwards/Lateral
• Split Squats Forward/Lateral/Rotational (1×5 each)
• Leg Swings Front to Back/Side to Side (8 each)
• Hang Stretch (15 seconds)

That is the complete total body warm up. Stretching, mobility, and activations included.  If you don’t know how to warm up and are planning on doing some resistance training, this should suit your needs. If you’re on an upper/lower body split training routine you can use these videos here. No matter the sport or workout you plan on doing, (from plain old cardio, to basketball, to bodybuilding) a proper dynamic warm up should always be part of your routine. Enjoy!

Here are some quick warm up videos for anyone who splits up there lifting routine into upper body and lower body resistance training on separate days. I made the videos shorter by performing only a couple of reps on each drill. I want 10-15 reps on each exercise. If the exercise is unilateral, just make sure you do at least 10-15 reps on each side just like with the bilateral stretches. I’m keeping it that to the point. The videos are below.

Oh yea, and they should both be preceded by some soft tissue work. You can find a basic and quick sequence here.

Quick lower body warm up

Quick upper body warm up

Do you warm up your car in winter? How about your hands when it’s cold out? You can even get funny and ask, do you warm up your partner? Truth is you probably do, or at least I hope so. That’s because you need to warm up before you perform any activity comfortably and or vigorously. It’s almost instinct. You don’t jump right into a freezing cold car, so don’t go into the gym stiff and jump right into your workout. Before I get down to business, please beware of the trainers who skip or put down proper  soft tissue or mobility work. Let’s look at these mistakes I have seen over this past week at a local commercial gym.

• One “trainer” had a client skip their warm up for the day and go right into a full ROM overhead press. They couldn’t even get their arms overhead. You would think one would consider some type of soft tissue or mobility work to help that first.

• Another “trainer” at one of my hometown gyms doesn’t believe in warm ups, and explained to me “those old school home boy stretches don’t work”.

• The last “trainer” had their client “warming up” with about 90% of their 1 RM for incline bench presses. I would hope others do not follow this person by example.
  

I’ll stop there but I needed to post this quick because so many trainers put their clients at risk without having them work on and or perform soft tissue and mobility work first. Trust me, know that I am a bodybuilder and I do love training for physique changes. Who doesn’t? But I also think everyone including you should never ignore ways to increase your longevity of training years.

For the time being let’s look at an average person’s gym day in steps…

Step 1:  Forget to leave their ego at the door.
Step 2:  Don’t warm up.
Step 3:  Jump right into heavy sets with weights or bust right into their cardio.
Step 4:  Use bad form, technique, and think they are performing the exercises properly.
Step 5:  They ALWAYS use partial range of motion or “cheat”.
Step 6:  Finish their workout, don’t stretch and leave the gym.

That’s quite the mess, so let me get back to my point and explain why I am writing this.

What does a proper warm up do?

1. Improves tissue quality
2. Increases elasticity and mobility of the major muscle groups, tendons, ligaments and joint structures. This also allows for better range of motion during training.
3. Produces muscle activation
4. Prepares you for your workout ahead.
5. Increases coordination and motor control.
6. Allows you to work on some asymmetries, postural imbalances or anything of need etc.
7. Raises body temperature, heart rate, respiratory rate, and also oxygen and blood flow to muscles.

Quick Insight: Like I said above,your muscles, tendons, and joints are more mobile after warming up. Therefore you have increased mobility, efficiency, and range of motion. This helps you avoid muscle tears and pulls.When you exercise, a good range of motion supplies you with the best gains. Think about it, a warmed up muscle is more flexible than a cold muscle. Warm up first.

So how do I warm up properly?

A simple guideline would be too…

1. Foam roll each muscle group with a foam roller and or a lax ball etc. then move into dynamic stretching
2. Perform a mobility routine hitting all the major muscle groups.
3. Perform muscle activation drills to get your body ready for the workout ahead.
4. Mimic all the major movements our body can do. So that’s squat, lunge, push, hinge, pull, and carry.
5. When you do decide to hit the weights, start with just the bar or a very light resistance on machines or dumbbells you can easily do at least 15 to 20 reps of. This allows you to “feel” the movement pattern.
6. Increase weights slowly with your “feeler sets” until you hit your desired training weight you want to use. From here, start you working sets.

Ideally, you would perform each of the steps above and I can’t stress this enough. But if you do not have the time to do all these drills, I recorded some upper and lower body body dynamic warms up here. This would work especially well for you guys on upper lower split routines. If you’re performing a total body workout look at this warm up here.