Over the years, one of the biggest mistake I’ve seen many people do is not following a warm up routine before workouts.
Whether you’re a beginner or an experience fitness enthusiast, preparing your body for any physical exercise is important. Warming up helps you get more mobility, avoid risking injuries, and gets your blood flowing for workouts.
Let’s dive right in and see a quick 10 minute warm up routine you can incorporate before any type of workout.
Pro Tips for Warm-Up
Before we get to the routine, here are some pro tips I’ve gathered from my experience as fitness instructor.
Include Dynamic Movements
Include dynamic warmups and movements that will translate to the exercises you are going to do in your main workout. It does whatever it takes to get your heart rate up, blood flow going and muscles temperature raised in preparation for the high-intensity activity ahead. Some good ones to start with are leg swings, arm circles and body weight squats.
Gradually Increase Intensity
Next, warm up at a light intensity and gradually increase. This kind of gradual, progressive approach will help your body go from a resting state to an active one without risk injuring yourself. Start with some light cardio such as simply marching on the spot or jogging slowly and then progress through progressively more dynamic and sport-specific exercises.
Focus on Joint Mobility
Similarly, perform useful, full-range-of-motion exercises to help alleviate aches and pains. This helps to mobilize the joints and get them ready for loading stresses. Exercises like hip circles, shoulder rolls and ankle rotations improve joint flexibility and mobility.
A thorough warm-up is necessary to lower your risk of injury, improve blood flow to your muscles, and get your body ready for more strenuous exercise.
This is a warm-up program that you can do for 10 minutes:
1. Jumping Jacks (2 minutes)
To increase heart rate and warm up your entire body, begin with jumping jacks. To gradually raise your heart rate, do them at a moderate pace.
2. Arm Circles (1 minute)
Arrange your feet so that they are shoulder-width apart, then straighten your arms out to the sides. Make small circular movements with your arms, moving forward for 30 seconds and backward for an additional 30 seconds.
3. Standing Backbend (1 minute)
To do a standing backbend, stand with feet hip-width apart, place your hands on your lower back, and gently arch your upper body backward while looking up and keeping your legs straight.
4. High Knees (1 minute)
Jog while standing still and raising your knees as high as you can. This exercise takes one minute. This activates your core and helps to warm up your hip flexors.
5. Downward Facing Dog (1 minute)
After that, start on your hands and knees, lift your hips toward the ceiling, straighten your legs and arms, forming an inverted V shape with your body. Hold it for 1 minute. Really good warmup exercise for upper and lower body.
6. Body weight Squats (1 minute)
To work your lower body and prime your muscles for more dynamic activities, perform body weight squats for one minute. Make sure you maintain good form by keeping your knees over your toes and your chest elevated.
7. Dynamic Lunges (1 minute)
Step forward into a lunge position and alternate your legs for one minute. Your hamstrings, hip flexors, and quadriceps will all benefit from this.
8. Torso Twists (1 minute)
Next, place your feet shoulder-width apart and rotate your upper body in a circular motion. This aids in bringing your spine into motion and warming up your core muscles.
9. Dynamic Arm Stretches (1 minute)
To improve blood flow to the upper body, perform dynamic arm stretches for one minute. These stretches involve swinging your arms back and forth.
10. Triangle pulses (1 minute)
Stand with feet wide apart, extend your arms parallel to the floor, and bend at the hip to reach one hand toward your shin or the floor while the other arm points upward and do pulses. This pose improves balance and flexibility while stretching the legs, hips, and spine. This will wrap up your warm-up. This keeps the heart rate up before engaging in more strenuous exercise.
Always pay attention to your body and adjust the intensity in accordance with your degree of fitness. This warm-up strengthens a variety of muscle groups and gets your body ready for a long list of activities.
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Mistakes to Avoid During Warm-Up
Now that you know about your warm up routine, here are some common mistakes to avoid.
Skipping the Warm-Up
A massive mistake is to not warm up at all. Intense workout without proper warm-up leads to higher risk of injuries and lower performance. Always give yourself a good 5-10 minutes warm up at least.
Static Stretching Before Intense Activity
Do not perform extended static stretches before a high-intensity workout. Static Stretching – Static stretching is a traditional form of static flexibility exercise that stretches out your muscles and keeps them in the stretched position.
This temporarily reduces muscle strength and power, so it is not recommended before dynamic movement as this does little to prepare your muscles for rotational or angular movements. Leave static stretching until the cool down phase after your workout, when your muscles are already warm.
Not Tailoring the Warm-Up to Your Workout
Performing a general warm-up that is inappropriate for the kind of workout you are going to undertake is a common mistake. Make sure the warm-up you do is tailored to the tasks you will be completing.
If you’re getting ready for a run, for instance, incorporate dynamic leg workouts like butt kicks and high knees. When engaging in upper body strength training, emphasize shoulder rotations and arm swings.
If implemented, the above tips and the elimination of the following errors will help in the improvement and effectiveness of a warmup session, thus, minimizing the chance of injury during workout.
You may also want to see our beginners guide on how to start your fitness journey.
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