How To Warm Up?

Remember that the warm-up is an essential and crucial aspect of any workout routine. By warming up, you significantly reduce the likelihood of injuries occurring during your exercise, while also improving your overall performance. A good warm-up typically takes about 30 minutes and prepares your muscles for the upcoming exercises, making them more efficient and easier to perform. It's important to approach the warm-up with the same intensity and focus as you would a regular workout session, as it plays a crucial role in setting the foundation for your workout.

For each warm-up exercice, you should feel a gentle stretch in the engaged muscle(s), but if you experience any pain or discomfort, stop the exercise immediately. It's also important to remember to keep your movements controlled and not too fast.

/!\ If you have to warm up before force oriented trainings with heavy weights, you need to do advanced warming up (using low to heavy weights). The classic warmup proposed here is more suitable for body weight exercises (or for low to medium weights exercises). So it is better to do a specific warming up using weights to minimize the risk injury.

Here are examples of warming up exercises for main muscle groups of the upper & lower body (note that the following list can be extended, adapted and/or made harder):

Head Rotation

1. Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart and your arms at your sides.
2. Make sure to keep your shoulders relaxed and your back straight throughout the movement.
3. Rotate your head clockwise and counterclockwise for 20 reps of each direction.

Forearms Rotation

1. Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart.
2. Extend your 2 arms on the sides, keeping your elbows straight and your palms facing down.
3. Slowly rotate your wrists in a circular motion, moving in a forward direction.
4. Do the rotations in forward & backward directions for 30 reps of each direction.

Arms Rotation

1. Start by standing up straight with your feet shoulder-width apart and your arms at your sides.
2. Rotate both arms simultaneously:

• 20 reps clockwise,
• 20 reps counter clockwise,
• 20 reps in opposite directions.

Shoulders Rotation

1. Start by standing up straight with your feet shoulder-width apart and your arms at your sides.
2. Rotate both shoulders in forward & backward directions for 20 reps of each direction.

Wrists Rotation

1. Start by standing up straight with your arms at your sides.
2. Raise your hands to shoulder height with your elbows bent at a 90-degree angle, and your fingers clasped.
3. Rotate both hands clockwise and counterclockwise for 30 reps of each direction.

Torso Swings

1. Start by standing with your feet shoulder-width apart and legs straight.
2. Bend your torso forward at a 90-degree angle while extending both arms (right hand towards the left foot and the left hand raised).
3. Make wide sweeping movements to the left then the right with your torso.
4. Focus your gaze on the hand that you are lifting during each swing.
5. Do 15 reps for each side by switching side for each rep.

Torso bends

1. Start by standing with your feet shoulder-width apart and legs straight.
2. When doing this exercise, make sure to keep your knees straight.
3. Bend to your left leg and try to touch your left feet with your fingers
4. From this bending position, twist your torso to try to touch your right leg
5. Straighten your body, join your legs together and try to touch your forehead with your knees by bending again your torso, hold this position for a few seconds.
6. Repeat these 3 moves above 5 times then another 5 times by bending first to the right then left.

Hips Rotation

1. Place your hands on your hips and ensure that your head is in a neutral position.
2. Rotate your hips in a wide circular motion.
3. Repeat this exercise 10 times in a clockwise direction and then 10 times in a counterclockwise direction.

Knees Rotation

1. Start by standing with your feet slightly apart and your hands on your hips.
2. Lift one leg with a bent knee off the ground.
3. Rotate the knee of this lifted leg to the right and then to the left before returning it to its original position.
4. Repeat these step 2 & 3: 10 times for each leg

Feet Rotation

1. Begin by standing with your feet slightly apart and shifting your body weight onto one foot.
2. Raise the other foot off the ground and balance on the toes of that foot.
3. Rotate the raised foot in a circular motion clockwise and then counterclockwise.
4. Repeat these step 2 & 3: 10 times for each foot.

Abs warm-up

1. Start by lying on your back and lifting one leg about 15 cm off the ground.
2. Perform horizontal scissors with your legs, crossing one leg over the other in a continuous motion for 30 seconds.
3. Take a 5-second break.
4. Perform vertical scissor with your legs, lifting both legs up towards the ceiling and crossing them over each other in a continuous motion for 30 seconds.
5. Repeat steps 2, 3 & 4 one more time.

Back warm-up

1. Start by lying on your stomach.
2. Simultaneously lift both your hands and legs off the ground, keeping them in the air for 1 second.
3. Do 20 reps of this exercise.

Dynamic Lateral Plank

1. Start by assuming a lateral plank position, propping yourself up onto your forearm and lifting your hips off the ground so that your body forms a straight line and ensuring that your elbow is directly underneath your shoulder.
2. Lower your hips towards the ground, bending your elbow and touching the floor with your hip without resting on it.
3. Push back up into the starting position and repeat the movement for 20 reps on one side.
4. Hold this start position for 20 seconds.
5. Switch to the other side and repeat the exercise for 20 reps and 20 seconds hold

Note that to increase the difficulty of this exercise, you can perform the dynamic lateral plank with a leg lift by lifting the top leg as you lower your hips towards the ground and gradually increasing the number of reps and/or hold duration as your strength improves.