My 10 Minute Warm Up Routine

A dynamic warm up can help prepare your body for exercise.  This is what my 10 minute warm up routine looks like. 

One of the most important parts of your workout is the warm up.  A warm up serves two purposes: it enhances your performance and can prevent injury.  The warm up increases your heart rate, increases blood flow to your muscles, tendons and ligaments (better for performance), and gets you mentally prepared for exercise.

And by warming up I do not mean stretching.  They are two different concepts.  As I described above warm up exercises get your body prepared for physical activity; whereas stretching focuses purely on stretching the muscles.  Both are needed, though, for a proper warm up.

Before every workout I do, I spend around 10 minutes warming up.  My warm up usually consists of:

Biking
Dynamic movements
Stretching

Biking

Biking is my choice of warm up cardio because it’s low impact so it doesn’t put stress on my joints, but it still gets my heart rate up.  It is also great for warming up your hips if your doing a lower body workout.  

If you like the elliptical, do that for 5 minutes, or walk/jog on the treadmill if that’s your choice.

Dynamic movements

Dynamic movements are a great way to not only get your blood flowing, but also to get your joints ready for more intense exercise.  

Here are some of the dynamic warm ups I do.

Jumping jacks

Walk outs

Wide squat jumps

Arm circles

Squat to stand

Stretching

Stretching is the last thing I do before my workout.  When included as part of dynamic warm up routine, stretching can help prevent injury.  But do not hold each stretch for more than a minute.  I only hold each stretch for about 20-30 seconds.  This helps keep me moving and my body warmed up.

Warming your body up before exercise is key.  If you start off cold you’re not going to perform as well and could possibly injure yourself.  A 10 minute warm up routine is all you need to get your blood flowing for most activities.