You Better “Warm up” for the Winter
Posted on 23 January 2009
Lauren Murphy
Why Warm Up?
I have a confession to make. I haven’t been warming up. All summer long, the weather was hot, and I was always active. I didn’t really feel the need to warmup. I just jumped right into the workout.
A warmup is crucial in that it loosens up your muscles, gets you mentally prepared, and helps prevent injury. I could have potentially hurt myself if my body wasn’t already warm and prepared for the beating I put it through. I’m young and I’m lucky.
I’ve been wondering about the decreased time and strength I’ve been experiencing lately in my workouts. The answer became apparent to me while at the end of my workout, a Sikh who is our landlord’s construction/maintenance guy comes over to me and starts talking to me about how he used to work out when he was younger. At one point he says to me, “Now that it is getting cold, you should exercise in the garage. Close the door and exercise so that you are warm. You should never exercise when it is cold. Your body needs to be warm.”
The Sikh was right. I took both parts of his advice: 1) get my body warm, and 2) workout in the garage. You’ll be seeing some of my new videos with me training in the garage.
But the question is:
How do we warmup without it being boring?
Good question. I have three options for you:
1 – Make your Warmup Half of your Workout
The title says it all. Simply cut your current workout in half by sets, reps, weight, and all else and go do it. Chances are you’ll be able to work on your form without worrying about how much weight you’re using, or if you’re beating your PR. Take it slow, and take it steady.
For example, lets say that the workout was:
Pyramid sets of:
Burpees 3-6-9-12-15-15-12-9-6-3
Pullups 1-2-3-4-5-5-4-3-2-1
You’re doing 90 Burpees, and 30 Pullups in this workouts. A warmup can look something like this:
Burpees 5×9
Pull Ups 5×5
Chances are, 45 Burpees and 15 Pullups will not phase you much. However, this may feel like a workout for a complete beginner or intermediate level trainee. The lesson to be learned here is that one man’s warmup may be another man’s workout.
2 – Stretch, but Keep Moving
I’ve heard that static stretching reduces strength. But I’m not really sure about that. I do know that I like to do what is known as dynamic stretching. Dynamic stretching is gradually increasing one’s range of motion with gently, smooth movements. What I do is set the timer for 5 minutes, and perform a variety of dynamic stretching drills. These drills focus primarily on loosening up my hamstrings, lower back, and joints.
3 – Just do Cardio Man
Some people will run on a treadmill for 15 minutes before hitting the weights. Performing some steady state cardio before an intense weight training routine is actually a really great warm up. It does exactly what it’s supposed to do: warms up your body and gets the blood flowing.
If you choose cardio as your primary method of warming up, then I suggest you choose something you enjoy and stick to it. Running, jump roping, shadowboxing, and sledgehammer swings are all valid cardio warm ups.
Switch Things Up and Do them all at Once
I strongly suggest trying out all three methods before you make a decision to stick to just one. You may even wish to combine all three methods into one. Here is a good way to do just that. Lets say you are about to perform the above mentioned workout. Here is a sample warm up:
1 minute Dynamic Stretching
9 Burpees
5 Pullups
1 minute Jump Roping
9 Burpees
5 Pullups
1 minute Dynamic Stretching
9 Burpees
5 Pullups
1 minute Jump Roping
9 Burpees
5 Pullups
1 minute Dynamic Stretching
This warmup may last you somewhere between 5- 10 minutes, with the workout lasting you somewhere between 12 to 18 minutes. Your total time exercising would still be under 30 minutes!
About the Author
Parth Shah is a Strength and Fitness Consultant specializing in developing practical, sustainable fitness solutions for his clients. His thoughts, ideas, and philosophy can be found on his website ShahTraining.com. Or click here for his RSS feed.
Comment by Tom Parker - Free Fitness Tips
23 January 2009
Running is one of my favourite warm ups. It gets the blood flowing really quickly, warms me up physcially and seems to loosen up my whole body.
Comment by David at Animal-Kingdom-Workouts.com
23 January 2009
Personally, I like to do a simple Yoga routine in the morning. It warms up my body and gets it ready for my workout, or even just the day.
- Dave
Comment by firstlunchthenwar
23 January 2009
Important point and nice article.
Before working out I do steve maxwell’s daily dozen. Then do some hip mobility stuff (leg swings etc.) Following that I do a series of glute activation exercises. These really help with my squats and deadlifts. Usually after that I’ll do some bw squats.
On the lifts I always start with an empty bar for a couple of sets and increment up to my working weight.
Nothing ground breaking but it all seems to make a difference.
Foam rolling seems to be very popular and that’s something I’m keen to integrate.
Comment by Bryan (from Six to Done)
23 January 2009
Well, I see how this can apply to lifting weights, but not quite to endurance activities. Yes, warming up IS important, but if I’m going out for a 2 hour run, I don’t want to spend 1 hour jogging around to warm up. All it takes is a mile or so to get my muscles loose. So, I’d say 10% of your entire workout is more like an acceptable warm up range. 50% is a little much.
Comment by Dan - Home Calisthenics
23 January 2009
Hey Shah,
I agree with what you were told. A warm up will always feature in my exercise plans. A combination of the 3 is my preference but it’s a case of “horses for courses” really.
Regards,
Dan.
Comment by Son of Grok
24 January 2009
What about the counter arguments to warming up? I always liked how Art Devany said “A lion doesn’t warm up before it hunts” (or something like that). I have noticed quite the opposite thing that you have. Since dropping warming up and jumping intensely right into my workouts, I have noticed increased strength, energy and benefit from training. Back in my bodybuilding days, I used to do the pyramid sets and all that rubbish to “warm up” into my max sets… but by the time you get there, you have wasted so much energy that could be put into increasing the sets that count. Just my 2 cents.
The SoG
Comment by JC
24 January 2009
@SoG, I am glad that is working out for you. I would be careful tho. I find that as I get stronger, I need more warm up sets to grease the groove so to speak. I am already not so flexible so that only adds more to the need for me to warm up.
I like to begin my workouts with some brisk walking followed by mobility drills to get my hips loose. Then we are off to the skwats.
Comment by Chris
24 January 2009
@ SOG: Interesting point you bring up. In spite of the article I really neglect warming up and luckily haven’t paid the cost yet. Usually my warmup consists of a few pressups and dips when going to the gym. If i’m doing some outdoor work it will simply be loosening out my shoulders (swinging them about a bit) and maybe 10-15 pushups/BW squats done at speed. Saying this there are always two sides to every story and I’m sure a moderate warmup like that suggested in the article does no harm, especially in these cold winter months!
Comment by Marc Feel Good Eating
25 January 2009
I’m with SOG on this,
however…..I’ve often thought about the animal analogy of not warming u before the hunt….. and came to my own conclusion that
the lion does not all of a sudden take off in full blast sprint. It gets poised, it crouches, it softly carefully moves forward to it’s target…and then..bang explodes.
So I try and do the same with my warm up.
I get my mind ready for the task at hand, I’ll walk on a treadmill for 2-3 minutes, then I do anyhwere from 10-20 really slow and deliberate push up. A few slow ass to ankle squats. And that’s all.
Marc