Great workouts start with a great warm up. Skip either of your 2-part warm up and you miss opportunities to get a better workout, reduce risk of injury, enhance oxygen delivery (to burn more fat), and feel better doing it. The two parts of ideal warm-ups:
- Core temperature elevation (doing low level of the exercise you’ll actually be doing, or walking, dancing, or using rebounder, for example)
- Dynamic and or specific movement in 3 different planes (try one of these below)
Doing a lower body-dominant workout? Try Warm up 1 or 2. Warm-ups should go from general to more specific during the 5-10 minuets you do them. Even in 20-minute workouts, both components should be present in warm-ups. Just shrink or expand to reflect the length of your workout.Â
Doing an exercise inclusive of lower and upper body? Try Warm up 3.
I’ve included the timestamps so you can go directly  to specific warm-ups I’ve included here.Â
2:13
Warm-Up 1: LEG SWINGS:
- 5 swings across your body
- 5 swings front to back
- 5 swings short lever
- 5 over-the-hurdle
- 5 reverse over-the-hurdle
04:00
Warm-Up 2: LUNGE MATRIX:
10 rear lunges (alternate legs)
- 10 side lunges (alternate legs)
- 10 45-degree rear lunges (alternate)
- 10 rear lunges (alternate legs)
Flips: keep your weight on the heels!
07:00
Warm-Up 3: FUNCTIONAL MOVES (for spine):
- 10 Rear Lunge Overhead hold (stable core)
- Side Lunge and Reach (slight rotation)
- Spyders (rotated spine)
- Cat Cow (flexion and extension)
Flip: Drop shoulders away from your ears as prop is overhead
Flip: Keep back long/avoid rounding the back
This is by no means an all-inclusive list of warm-ups. It’s a small sample of simple warm ups you can do that prepare your body. What you don’t see is a lot of static stretches that you hold. 1980 called and wanted that back. The science in the last two decades has confirmed that moving and dynamic warm up combinations like this better prepare the body for a workout. Your cool down is a better place to put your static stretching for 15-30 seconds.
Questions about Warm ups? Leave your comments below.
Check out https://www.flippingfifty.com/5dayflip for my example of how to organize your weekly workouts and get 5 short, doable workouts you can use even when you think you don’t have time (you do!)
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