female-bodybuilder2What kind of warm-up do you do before your training sessions?

Do you warm-up at all?

The warm-up is a very important part of a good training program. Without warming up properly you are increasing your risk of injury and it also will take away from your performance.

There are many different ways to warm-up and prepare the body for a training session. When I was in the Marine Corps we did a warm-up called “the daily seven” which consisted of 7 body weight movements, which worked quite well.

A good warm-up is designed to get your bodies core temperature up and prepare you for whatever movements you are doing for that day. Getting your bodies core temp up just means you start to break a sweat. This can be done in many different ways; A brisk walk or slow jog for a few minutes, or you could do a “Daily seven” style body weight circuit with no rest in between exercises.

Now if your going to be including some resistance exercises in your training session then you want to prepare your body for whatever movements you will be doing. This is where many people get the warm-up wrong. First of all if your muscles are tight and will prevent you from getting into proper form with the exercises then you need to do some corrective stretches. For example: your hip flexors and glutes are tight and you will be squatting, then you should include some stretching for your glutes and hip flexors to loosen those tight areas up so you can do the movement with proper from and full range of motion. And no, I didn’t say do a full blown stretching session before you train. Stretching too much will take away from your strength. Save the flexiblilty work for post workout. Just do enough to loosen up those tight areas and also if needed you can use a foam roller for self massage.

I  also see a lot of guys and gals doing way too many reps and sets for the warm-up which will tire you out before your actual working sets. A “warm-up” remember is a movement prep. Which means it should prepare you for the movement and the weight you will be lifting, not tire you out before you start. Your warm-up sets do not have to be high repetition to get the job done. Keep the reps low and work your way up to just below your starting weight of your working sets. Keep the reps in the 1 - 5 range and within 3 -4 warm-up sets. Now it may take more than that or less and with experience you will be able to “feel” when you are ready.

Here’s a video of how I start my training sessions. This is a modified version of a “daily seven” style circuit warm-up that works good for me.

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I usually follow that up with some corrective stretching, if needed, and then move into the training session where I will perform the proper warm-up sets for whichever movements I am doing for the day.

Try this out and let me know what you think, and remember that your warm-up is a movement prep so don’t tire your self out.

Would love to hear your comments on this and what type of warm-up works best for you.

Think, Look and Be Strong!