What's your warmup?

[Gittit Shwartz]

I thought it would be interesting to see what everyone was doing for warmup. (If you have a workout log on here, you can just cut and paste.)

Some guiding questions:
Are there exercises or routines you like to do before every workout, or before a specific kind of workout?
How long is your warmup?
What exercises will you do even if you're pressed for time?
What special exercises do you do for injuries or imbalances?
What are your "biggest bang for the buck" warmup exercises?


I'll start:

The "workout" is a few minutes of hand balancing (handstands, QDR) every morning. Actually the warmup takes longer than the actual "workout" since it is also my morning routine. I've been doing this routine for a few weeks.

The issues I have to specially address are naturally closed shoulders, an old lower back injury, and my hand/wrist problems - I have a bone spur (carpal boss) on the back of each hand that somewhat limits ROM in the wrist and between the metacarpals. Especially when it's cold and in the morning, I can't entirely spread my palm flat right away, so it needs special attention.

What I do EVERY morning, even if I don't have time for the handstands after:
- Upward facing/downward facing dog
- Some high rep exercise to pump up the lower back - either 50 good mornings/RDLs with a light weight, or 25 reverse hyperextensions
- Shoulder flexibility routine on Swedish ladders by Ido/Coach Sommer x3 - so far, I'm getting really good results with this.
- Shortened version of Coach Sommer's wrist prep routine. I've found that once my shoulders are good and open the hand/wrist don't feel as stiff. It could also be because gripping and hanging from the ladders warms them up.
- If I have time, some alternating leg pistols and pike stretches on the swedish ladders.

For strength or metcon based workouts, I don't really warm up, just some basic joint mobility. It's sort of a deal I made with myself... Too many sets and exercises in the warmup and I just lose my appetite for the actual workout. Of course if I'm going to DL heavy, I work up from a lighter weight, but that's about it. I've never felt I really needed more.

Comments/questions welcome.

What's YOUR warmup?

[Darryl Shaw]

I've never really done any specific warm up so I usually just do a single easy/light set to mobilize my joints and make sure everything feels okay then I go straight into my work sets.

[Allen Yeh]

Currently if I'm lifting in the gym I'll alternate between these 2 warmups, I'm supposed to use a foam roller for the first portion so by subbing the little massage bell thing I don't eve get my lats like it's suggested.

Eric Cressey Warmup Option 1: ~10 minutes
SMR using massage ball thing - thoracic extension, quads. IT bands, hip flexors, adductors and pecs
lacrosse ball - calves, glutes, infraspinatus, arch roll ~0:15-0:30
kneeling RF/TFL stretch - 0:15L/R
sleeper stretch - 0:15L/R
glute bridge - 12
reach, roll, lift - 8L/R
wall ankle mobility - 8L/R
x-band walk - 10L/R
pull-back butt kick - 5L/R
cradle walk - 5L/R
split stance broomstick pec mobilization - 8L/R
squat to stand - 8
OH lunge walk - 5L/R

Eric Cressey Warmup Option 2: ~11 minutes
SMR using handheld massage ball thing - IT bands, quads, adductors, hip flexors, thoracic extension, pecs
lacrosse ball - calves, glutes, infraspinatus, arch roll ~0:10-0:20
warrior lunge kneeling stretch - 0:15L/R
hip external rotator stretch - 0:15L/R
bird dog - 8L/R
x band walk - 10L/R
rocking ankle mobility - 8L/R
scap pushup - 12
wall slide - 12
levator scapula stretch - 0:15L/R
high knee walk - 5L/R
reverse lunge w/ postolateral reach - 5L/R
walking spiderman - 5L/R

If it's not a gym day and I'm at home I'll usually do either a DROM warmup (hip circles, swings, arm circles...etc.) Throw in some movement prep exercises like inverted hamstring stuff. I'll also throw in some foam rolling prior to working out as well. 2+ months ago I was doing a variety of lower body things along with the diesel crew should rehab program. I like the way Eric Cresseys things out.

Things I've been trying to lately is incorporate a daily brief joint mobility program that hits all the major joints, in ~5-15 minutes. To focus more on areas I rarely focus on (feet, ankles, wrists, neck). This will usually be early morning or upon first waking up.

Once I start the workouts I'll typically warmup like this if it's a deadlift day with little rest other than changing the plates.
45 x 8, 95 x 5, 135 x 3, 185 x 1, 225 x 1, 275 x 1, rest 3 minutes then work sets form there.

[Daniel Labuz]

Whatever I want to improve on, I always liked Dan John's philosophy of the warm up being the workout so I usually do some bodyweight exercises, or if I'm lifting some lightweight mid-rep lifting complexes, or sometimes I'm lazy and just row 500-1000m at a good pace.

But my pre-warmup(workout) always involves some foam rolling, calve stretching against wall, hip and shoulder mobility movements, and finger/wrist stretching

[Kevin Perry]

I change it up from time to time depending on my mood.

One day might look like this:

Pushups, situps, squats kinda like a mini CFWU

Most of the time though I do SN balance + Jerk Balance + Hit Clean

I try to do some ROM movements before every workout and every so often some foam rolling since I discovered how effective it is.

I'm really bad at remembering to stretch though.

[james forshaw]

At the moment, mine looks like this...

10 reps of the following:

Standing leg swings (each side - dynamic hamstring stretch)
Pull-ups
Split squats (each side - dynamic hip flexor stretch)
Shoulder dislocates
Dips
Standing leg swings
KBS
Overhead Squats

Takes about 3-4 mins which IMO is enough to get the heart-rate going, and I think it covers all muscle groups whilst addressing shoulder/hamstring flexibility (which I'm sorely lacking).
My best Fran is well under 3 minutes rx'd, but a full Crossfit warm-up I'm convinced would take far too much out of me. Never done one though, so it's just speculation.

[Derek Weaver]

It depends but my most common warm up looks something like overhead squats with the bar for 5-10 reps depending on how cold it is in the garage... nice and slow.

THEN I'll head into joint mobility and any other stuff. Sometimes it's CFWU, other times maybe a light KB comples (one arm swings, cleans, snatches, goblet squats, windmills etc.), tuck jumps etc.

I also have been working more shoulder dislocates and stretching to loosen the upper back depending on what the workout is. Usually this on days with a standing press involved. Upper back tightness screws with my rack position on presses and jerks.

Need more PWO stretching still though.

[George Mounce]

3 min rowing at moderate pace
dynamic range of motion
10 reps each of squats, sit-ups, back extensions, pull-ups, handstand push-ups
warm-up lifts for those I'll be doing that day

[Arien Malec]

Originally Posted by Gittit Shwartz

What's YOUR warmup?

Very simple:
500m row, shoulder dislocates, pvs OHS, wrist rotations.

Complexes with 20 kg, 30 kg:
muscle sn, tall sn, sn balance

[Mike ODonnell]

3 min walking incline treadmill to warm up hammies
bodyweight higher rep pushups, squats, lying hip raises, lunges
cable twists, pulls, pushes

nothing strict....just have fun and get the muscles going