Some people say you should only follow something like this beginner warm up guide and not strength train.
While others say you shouldn’t warm up at all because it’s a huge waste of time.
So, what’s the right answer?
As usual, I fall somewhere in the middle.
Let’s dive into this beginner warm up guide to find out.
Beginner Warm Up Guide: What is a Warm Up?
A warm up is a way to get your body ready for the workout ahead.
Just like you start your car to defrost it in the winter, you defrost your body by warming up to get ready for the workout.
But, what about the people who say that you don’t need to warm up?
Well, technically they’re right…. you don’t need to warm up at all.
You can go into the gym cold, throw some weights around, and still get in a solid session.
I’ve done this plenty of times and so have some of my clients (more on this below).
However, just like you probably don’t want to drive around with ice on your windows and cold air blowing out of your vents…
You probably don’t want to be working out when your body, joints, and muscles are stiff and cold either.
It could potentially increase your risk for injury and reduce your workout performance.
Look at this way…
Think of all of the different professions that warm up in order to perform their best…
- Basketball players warm up and shoot balls before a game.
- Singers warm up their voices before a concert.
- You may warm up your mind in the morning with a nice hot cup of joe and a book.
So, warm up a quite common.
I understand they aren’t the sexiest thing in the world.
But, if you want to feel your best, perform your best, and get your mind ready for the workout ahead, a proper warmup can help with that.
Beginner Warm Up Guide: Structuring Your Warmup
A simple warm up should take you NO longer than 10 minutes.
Anything longer than that is a waste of time that you could otherwise be spending on your strength training session.
This is a common mistake that I see: people have 45 minutes to get a good workout in and they spend 30 of those minutes warming up.
Don’t be like “Warm Up Wendy” who spends 30 minutes stretching, but always complains about her lack of results.
Get in, do your warm up, and get to work.
This is why I created this beginner warm up guide in the first place.
So how do you fit in a quick warm up then?
By breaking it up into 6 simple steps.
This is a combination that I’ve learned from other coaches, things I’ve practiced on myself, and have used countless times with clients.
1. Light Cardio (Optional)
You can start your warm up with a few minutes of light cardio to increase your heart rate and warm up your body.
Notice how I said light… this shouldn’t cause you to be out of breath.
A simple light cardio warm up includes things like walking on the treadmill, elliptical, bike, rower, etc… something that is very easy on your body and joints and doesn’t cause a lot of stress.
When I used to train clients in person, some clients would sit there and do nothing while waiting for our session to start.
They wouldn’t even walk for a few minutes… SMH.
Then I’d have to say “come on Todd… now we have to waste 5 min of your session warming up on the treadmill.”
So, don’t be like Todd.
At the very least, warm up with some light cardio.
To Do: 3-5 Minutes of very light cardio.
2. Foam Rolling
Foam rolling is a form of something called “Self Myofascial Release” or “SMR”
Basically, it’s a technique to get the tight muscles in your body to temporarily relax, which can temporarily help reduce pain, stiffness, and improve your range of motion.
Again, you’ll hear people bashing foam rolling and others praising it.
I again fall somewhere in the middle.
It’s not the second coming of Jesus but it’s also not pointless.
Research still isn’t clear on the exact mechanism, but there is plenty of anecdotal evidence to back it up.
If you have ever tried foam rolling, you know that you feel some type of way afterwards.
And if you can feel good going into your workout after a long day’s work or bright and early in the morning, then why not do it?
Be aware though, it doesn’t tickle. When you find that trigger point, it’s going to hurt for a few seconds.
However, after a few moments of struggle, it will leave you feeling better than before.
So, if you’ve never done this before, I’d highly recommend trying it.
To Do: Take some time to find those trigger points, hold them for 10-20 sec, and move on. Pick 1-2 spots.
3. Stretching
The goal is to stretch your “tight” muscles to make them, for a lack of a better term, “looser”.
And this, combined with foam rolling, is a good one-two punch that can lead to an even bigger stretch and more relief.
There are 2 main types of stretching:
Static stretching and dynamic stretching.
Static stretching is where you hold a stretch in the same position for a long period of time (30-60 sec).
This type of stretching probably isn’t the best before a workout because it’s more parasympathetic, meaning, it relaxes your body.
Instead, the goal is to “excite” your body for the workout ahead so that you can push as much weight as safely as possible and make the most progress.
Now, if you do static stretching is it going to destroy your gains?
Probably not.
But, for this beginner warm up guide, I still like to keep static stretching for the end of your workouts or on your off days.
Instead, what I like better before your workouts is something called dynamic stretching.
Unlike static stretching where you hold a stretch in one position…
You’re slowly moving in and out of the stretch with the intent to try and get a little deeper each time.
For example, let’s say you’re doing a hamstring stretch.
Instead of holding it at the same position for x amount of time, you’re going to try straightening your leg a bit more each rep.
To Do: Stretch the tight muscles around your body using dynamic stretching. Pick 1-2 exercises.
4. Mobility
Next comes your mobility.
You may be wondering (because I know I did when I first started) what’s the difference between mobility and stretching?
The answer to that is they’re very similar but slightly different.
Stretching is more passive in that it works on improving your flexibility and loosening up tight muscles. Basically, you’re forcing your way into a new range of motion.
Mobility on the other hand is more active where you’re actively using your muscles to get into a new range of motion.
For example, it’s one thing for someone to push your arm over your head. That’s passive because there is no tension. Someone else’s force on your arm is causing it to go overhead.
It’s another thing to work on using your own muscles to go overhead. Now, you are actually controlling that movement and connecting to your muscles better to get them firing properly.
This will lead to less nagging injuries, feeling and moving better, and actually MORE strength.
So, the goal with mobility is to push into new ranges of motion while creating tension with your muscles in order to build better connections and strength in that new range of motion.
Important point: these need to be executed with intent to reap the benefits in this beginner warm up guide.
Mobility isn’t to be done aimlessly.
Every rep matters. You should feel your muscles working as you try to push them into unfamiliar territory.
And, if done right, you should start to work up a sweat.
If you’re aimlessly moving around, you’re missing out on all of the potential benefits.
You’ll notice that these exercises may even feel like a workout.
To Do: The intent of mobility exercises matter. Go slow, with control, and feel the muscles work. Pick 1-2 exercises.
5. Activation Exercises
Once your body is feeling loose, now is the time to “activate” the target muscles for your workout.
This typically involves isolation movements to “turn on” certain muscles that will be used in your workout.
For example, maybe you have forward rounding shoulders and a head that protrudes forward (Meto!).
This is due to the muscles on the front side of our body being too tight, and the muscles on the back side of our body being too loose.
So the tight muscles over power the loose muscles and bam… you’re stuck like that.
It’s very common if you have a desk job or sit around during the day in a hunched position like a caveman.
So, this is why you want to stretch your tight muscles to make them more loose.
And then connect to and strengthen your weaker muscles so that they do their jobs properly.
For example, let’s say you’re about to do a bench press but you want to keep your shoulder blades back so that you use more chest and less shoulders.
One thing you could do is face pulls so that you work your upper back and shoulders to help them fire and be used for proper bench press form.
Another example would be if you have trouble feeling your glutes in a squat or deadlift.
You could add in a glute bridge with a pause at the top to connect and fire your glutes and get them ready for the workout.
So, the better we can “connect to” and get these muscles firing, the better you will feel during your workout and the more weight you’ll be able to lift.
To Do: Complete 1-3 activation exercises for your workout ahead.
Beginner Warm Up Guide: What To Warm Up?
I’m going to go over the most important areas of your body that you should include in this beginner warm up guide.
You may be thinking “Bob, I just want my warm up already.”
If that’s you, cool skip this part and scroll down.
However, I’d strongly encourage you to read it because I want to show why it’s important to warm these areas up.
Everything is connected in some way.
That means if one area is tight or weak and not working properly, it can affect other areas of your body.
The cool thing is you can use these as a plug and play depending on which areas of your body need more work and can even include some of these on your rest day for some active recovery.
Ankles
Your ankles, believe it or not, can be a cause to many of your ailments in your knees, low back, and hips.
If the ankles aren’t doing their job properly, another part of your body has to compensate, which can lead to some of those nagging pains and imbalances.
Therefore, healthy ankles are always a good thing.
So, the goal is to make sure your knee can track over your toes with a good range of motion for you.
Below are a few movements to work your ankles:
| Foam Roll: Foam Roll Calves |
| Stretch/Mobility: Calf Stretch Combat Stretch |
| Activation: FFESS |
Hips
You have a lot of muscles in your hip area.
And if something isn’t functioning properly – whether it’s too tight or weak – it can lead to low back, knee, and balance issues as well as overall weakness.
Yeah, not fun. I’d say weak glutes are one of the most common problem areas I see with clients.
This is especially true if you work at a desk all day and sit on your butt.
Those hips can become sleeeeeeppppyyyy. And just like your ankles, something else is going to have to take over for them.
So, it’s important that we have these bad boys ready to go for the workouts.
The goal is to work your hips from both the front and side since your hips have muscles that function both front/back and side/side.
That way, they’re functioning at their best.
Below are a few movements to get those hips warmed up:
| Foam Roll: Adductors Piriformis |
| Stretching/Mobility: Hip Flexor Stretch 90/90 Stretch Lateral Leg Swings Adductor Rock Backs Side Lunge |
| Activation: Clam Shells Side Lying Leg Lift Glute Bridge FFESS |
Thoracic Spine (Upper/Mid Back)
Your thoracic spine (T-spine) makes up the middle portion of your back.
Its job is to help stabilize the rib cage while also flexing (bending), extending (straightening), and rotating (twisting) your spine.
However, if you have poor t-spine mobility, it sometimes can’t extend or rotate properly.
Therefore, another part of your body has to compensate – usually your shoulders and low back – which can lead to potential issues down the road.
For example, have you ever seen someone press overhead while humping the air?
This is because they lack upper back mobility, so their lower back has to arch in order to get their hands above their head.
So, by improving your T-Spine mobility, you will be able to extend your arms overhead more freely and hopefully feel good while training.
Therefore, you want to both work on t-spine rotation (twisting) and extension (straightening) to move more freely.
| Foam Roll: T Spine |
| Mobility: Thread The Needle Quadruped Kneeling T-Spine Rotation T-Spine ExtensionCat-Camel |
Shoulders
Your shoulder is one of the most unstable joints on your body.
That is because it’s the most mobile joint of all and has a lot of small unstable/weak muscles supporting it.
Yeah, a recipe for disaster. Thanks evolution!
So, what can happen is, those muscles that are supposed to support your shoulder aren’t doing their jobs, which causes your shoulder joint to act out of whack.
If you’ve ever been lifting and felt your shoulder act up, you know what I’m talking about.
Therefore, by warming up your shoulders, you’re going to strengthen the muscles surrounding your shoulder joint.
Which can hopefully improve your shoulder health and function and allow you to lift more weight safely with good form in your workout.
Below are a few movements to get your shoulders warmed up and feeling good.
| Foam Roll/Lacrosse Ball: Pec Minor Release Upper Trap Release |
| Mobility/Stretch: Lat Stretch Band Up and Over Back to Wall Shoulder Flexion |
| Activation: Band Pull Apart Banded W Face Pull Prone Cobra Prone T Prone Y Superman with Retraction |
Beginner Warm Up Guide: Warm Ups vs Warm Up Sets
Remember from the beginning when I said you could technically skip the warmup and jump right into your workout?
This is where you would do that.
I don’t advise it but sometimes you’re short on time and you gotta do what you gotta do.
Warming up before your workout is NOT the same as warm up sets.
The goal of warm up sets is to get your body, joints, and muscles ready for a specific exercise.
Basically they’re lighter “practice” sets for your workout.
These are to be done before your working sets – working sets are the sets that are prescribed in your program.
Ex: 3×5 (3 sets of 5 reps)
So, by warming up with that specific movement, you’re essentially practicing the movement with lighter weight to warm up with good form.
As a general rule, the bigger the movement and the more weight you’ll be lifting, the more warm up sets you’re going to need.
On the opposite end, the smaller the movement and the lighter the weight you’ll be lifting, the less warm up set’s you’ll need.
Let’s say for your first exercise you’re going to squat 275×5. That’s a pretty big exercise, involving a lot of muscles, and using a lot of weight.
A warm up would look something like this:
Set 1: Bar Only x5
Set 2: 135×5
Set 3: 185×3
Set 4: 225×2
Set 5: 255×1
You’re slowly getting your body ready for the working set of 275×5 so that you can perform your best.
Now, as you progress through your workout, you won’t need as many warm up sets since your body will already be warmed up.
So, let’s say you perform a DB RDL with 40 lbs in each hand for your second exercise of the day.
That’s a smaller exercise without much weight.
Therefore, you may only need one warm up set to practice the movement since you’re not lifting as much weight and your body is already warmed up from the heavy squats you just did.
Beginner Warm Up Guide: Example Warm Ups
Alright, the time has come.
Time to give you 3 example warm ups in this beginner warm up guide.
You’ll have 1 Upper Body, 1 Lower Body, 1 Full Body.
These should be done before your workouts (obviously), but can also be done on your off days as well if you want extra mobility work to help fix your posture and feel better.
We’re going to tackle the ankles, hips, t-spine, and shoulders – all of which are important for a well functioning body and effective workout.
| Upper Body Day: |
| 1-2 Rounds Each Foam Roll/Lacrosse Ball Pecs: x15-30 sec Lat Stretch: x15-30 sec T-Spine Extension: x5 T-Spine Rotation: x5/side Band Up and Over: x10 Band Pull Apart: x10 |
| Lower Body Day: |
| 1-2 Rounds Each Foam Roll Calves: x15-30 sec Foam Roll Piriformis: x15-30 sec Hip Flexor Stretch: x15-20 sec Combat Stretch: x5/side 90/90 Stretch: x5/side World’s Greatest Stretch: x5/side Glute Bridge: x10 w/5 sec hold Bird Dog: x5/side |
| Full Body Day: |
| 1-2 Rounds Each Foam Roll Calves: x15-30 sec Foam Roll Piriformis: x15-30 sec Foam Roll/Lacrosse Ball Pecs: x15-30 sec Hip Flexor Stretch: x15-30 sec Cat Cow: x5 World’s Greatest Stretch: x5/side Deadbug: x5/side Bird Dog: x5/side |
Conclusion
Ok, that is your beginner warm up guide.
Hopefully you now have a better idea of the what and whys behind a warm up and can begin to implement some of these exercises both before your workouts and as a form of active recovery so you can feel and perform better.
Hope that helps!
-Coach Bob
Ps. Any questions, feel free to email me at bobhooverfitness@gmail.com
Pps. If you’re interested in working with me directly 1:1 to lose fat, build muscle, and get strong AF, you can apply HERE to set up a free call.