Near the beginning of a training session at the gym this morning, I mentioned to someone that I appreciated his ability to load up a barbell with a moderately heavy weight and just start squatting. I said that, when it comes to squats, I always have to start out with a few lighter sets if I don’t want to feel miserable during the heavy sets.
Now, you might reasonably suggest that having to slowly progress up to the day’s working weight is due to my no longer being a spring chicken. But I’d follow up your not invalid point by saying that what I do to warm up actually depends on two other factors: generally, how I feel at the time and, specifically, what type of activity I’m about to perform.
(While age isn’t unimportant, it’s more of an indirect factor. You can read elsewhere about my thoughts on age-related training.)
Here’s a brief overview of how I approach movement prep (i.e. warm-ups), along with some principles you might consider when deciding how you go about starting your exercise sessions.
Movement prep vs. warm-ups
Though it might at first seem silly or unimportant, using specific terminology can prime your mind (and, by extension, your body) for what you’re about to do. That’s why I prefer to say movement prep instead of warm up.
Movement prep (MP) implies doing what’s appropriate to prepare the body to get the most benefit from the upcoming session. Whether that aligns with what you think a “good warm-up is supposed to look like” is irrelevant as long as it helps you feel and perform better.
On the other hand, warm up implies simply increasing the body’s temperature. Although that isn’t inappropriate, there are a multitude of ways to do it without necessarily doing the things that will make the upcoming activity better. And it isn’t absolutely necessary in all cases anyway. (Kind of a by-product of our prehistoric evolutionary history of springing into action to avoid danger without first spending 30 minutes stretching.)
Speaking of which…
Activity type
I generally think of activity as falling into one of four categories, and my movement prep varies the most based on the category:
Easy/Slow Movement
This includes activities like yard work, stretching, hiking/rucking, and other activities for which the intensity can be gradually increased. (For me, this also includes practicing jiu jitsu and rock climbing; that is, generally slow-moving sports that I’ve been practicing for a long time and which I can easily adjust my effort.)
These activities typically don’t require any type of movement prep as the physical requirements fall well below the limits of our capabilities and actually serve as their own movement prep.
My MP protocol: Nothing other than adjusting my effort lower at the beginning and higher toward the middle and end of the session.
Power/Explosive Movement
This includes activities such as sprinting, jumping, kettlebell or barbell jerks or snatches, and other fast movements like kicks or punches (such as in some martial arts like karate, Muay Thai, or boxing).
These activities can benefit from movement prep that includes mobility drills (i.e. drills or exercises that require joints to move through their full range of motion) and slower or lighter movements that work muscle groups or movement patterns that are similar to the upcoming primary exercises.
For example, walking lunges or foot-speed drills prior to sprinting or jumping, a set or two of kettlebell swings prior to snatches, or Indian Club swinging prior to kettlebell or barbell jerks.
My MP protocol: A couple minutes of Indian Club swinging if I’m doing overhead work (e.g. snatches, jerks) plus one or two sets of swings.
Strength Movement
These activities include just about all other exercises in which you lift some type of weight. Examples include squats, get-ups, pull-ups, push-ups, and presses (military or bench).
These movements often feel better if they follow easy hip stretches and spine-focused mobility drills (such as bootstrap squats and brettzels). Depending on how heavy your working sets will be, when in the session you’ll be doing the primary exercises, and how you feel (more on this in a minute), one or more lighter sets can round out your movement prep for the day.
My MP protocol: Always one or two sets of brettzels and bootstrap/bodyweight squats. If I’m squatting or deadlifting, I’ll also do 1-3 sets using lighter weights. If I’m doing presses, pull-ups, or get-ups, I just get to work.
Endurance Movement
This includes activities which fall into what you’d probably consider traditional cardio training: running (i.e. long distance jogging, not sprinting), swimming, biking, or any other cardio machine you’d find at the gym (e.g. stair stepper, elliptical).
Great movement prep for these types of activities includes 3-10 minutes of just about any type of movement that increases the heart rate. The point here is mostly activating your aerobic system prior to starting your main work.
Technically, you could also skip the movement prep and lump this into category 1. But then the first 8-10 minutes of the session might feel harder before your aerobic system fully ramps up.
My MP protocol: Activities that I use for endurance training fall into categories 1 and 2, so I usually do the related protocol. On the rare occasion when I go for a jog, I do a few sets of bodyweight squats and push-ups beforehand.
Body awareness
While activity type is usually the primary driver of my movement prep, how my body feels at the beginning of a training session becomes a consideration at a certain time of the day.
When I train in the evening, I’ll have usually moved a lot throughout the prior 8-12 hours and will feel more limber. In those cases, I just do what’s listed in the Activity Type section.
But I’m usually less limber when I train within a couple hours of waking. So mornings are typically when I’ll add something extra to my movement prep. Most often that’s an extra round or two of the protocol from the Strength Movement section.
Putting it into practice
Once again, the point of movement prep (or whatever else you want to call it) is to help you perform better in your upcoming sport or training session.
So if you have a strategy that works for you, carry on! But if you either don’t have a strategy or have been following a process that hasn’t been helping as much as you’d like, experiment with more, less, or something different.
Because training is much more fun when you feel better doing it.