Morning Coffee Ponderings: Warm Up Circuits and Daily Exercise

For a long time my warmup routine before training (for both my clients and myself) has been pretty darn good, but boring.

I think we should use our warm ups to get the body prepared to lift and provide a little special attention to problem areas, or areas that get tight on most people. Call it gentle mobility and activation drills. 

My warm ups would look something like this:

1. Something for the glutes and hips (bird dogs, glute bridges, or clam shells)

2. Something for the shoulders and upper back (band pull aparts, kettlebell haloes, Indian club swings, or rear delt flyes)

3. Something for the core (carries, leg raises, ab wheels, or dead bugs).

I would do 1 set of each exercise before my own training. With clients I'd generally have them do 1-3 sets per exercise before our lifting. 

It's good. But it's boring. And when done slowly, it doesn't get the heart rate up.

I was missing something.

The warm up should be gentle, yet fun. You should break a sweat in the warm up whilst also lubing up the joints, oft-tight muscles, and problem areas. 

It's also a good time to work on some of those qualities that often get overlooked during traditional strength training. Things like bounce, explosiveness, conditioning, movement quality, and those tedious little muscles or boring exercises nobody actually wants to do. 

As Coach Dan John has said many times (in his books, emails, and videos): "the warm-up is the workout."

While it doesn't have to necessarily be "the workout," I agree it should play a more fun, forward-facing role in the workout.

So what's changed?

Well, I pretty much focus on the same things:

Hips, shoulders, and core. But I now include bounce/explosiveness, also.

Then, I put it all into a fast-paced circuit to get the blood pumping, increase heart rate, and get those feel good endorphins awakened. This 3-4 exercise circuit also adds a mild element of conditioning, which usually doesn't get directly trained in my 30-45 minute strength & hypertrophy focused sessions. 

Below, I share a general template followed by some sample warm up routines. 

As a warm up, it should take 5-10 minutes, or 2-3 rounds of the circuit.

Warm up circuit template:

1. Explosive hip hinge or glute bridges or clam shells

2. Core (any loaded carry, rotation, anti-rotation, plank, or ab exercise)

3. Shoulder/upper body warm up

4. Explosive/bounce warm up (this sometimes is included as a hinge or shoulder)

Pick 1 exercise for 3-4 of these options. Rotate through as a circuit (with minimal rest) for 2-3 sets OR as many rounds as possible in 5 or 10 minutes.

Sample Warm Up Circuits

WU1

-Jump rope x 25-50

-Inch Worms (out and back) x 5-10

-Glute Bridges x 10

*Repeat for 2-3 rounds or amrap 5-10 minutes 

WU2

-Any ab exercise x 10-20

-club swings x 10

-kettlebell swings, cleans, snatches, half snatches, or clean & jerk x 5-10 reps

*Repeat for 2-3 rounds or amrap 5-10 minutes

WU3

-jump rope x 25-50

-rear delt fly or face pulls variation x 10

-kettlebell/dumbbell windmills x 3-5

*Repeat for 2-3 rounds or amrap 5-10 minutes

WU4

-Jump rope x 25-50

-Any ab exercise x 10-20

-club swings or kettlebell haloes x 10

-kettlebell swings, cleans, snatches, half snatches, or clean & jerk x 5-10 reps

*Repeat for 2-3 rounds or amrap 5-10 minutes

WU5

-glute bridges or clam shell x 10

-Any ab exercise x 10-20

-club swings or kettlebell haloes x 10

-kettlebell swings, cleans, snatches, half snatches, or clean & jerk x 5-10 reps

*Repeat for 2-3 rounds or amrap 5-10 minutes

WU6

-Jump rope x 25-50

-Any ab exercise x 10-20

-push press x 10

-single leg feet elevated glute bridges x 5-10 reps

*Repeat for 2-3 rounds or amrap 5-10 minutes

WU7

-squat jumps x 5

-Any ab exercise x 10-20

-inch worms x 10

-glute bridges or clam shells x 10 reps

*Repeat for 2-3 rounds or amrap 5-10 minutes

Those are just 7 examples. Feel free to pick and pair exercises together and create these warm up circuits of 3-4 exercises. Do 2-3 rounds of the circuit (made up of 3-4 exercises) or 5-10 minutes resting minimally. Take care of something for the hips, core, shoulders, and explosiveness while working up a sweat, having fun, and preparing your body and mind for the lifting ahead!

Suddenly, my warm ups are a fun part of the workout, and, I must admit, my clients and I have all noted improved focus and increased performance during the actual – meat and potatoes – lifting sessions since doing these "warm up circuits."

Even better, I've found these warm up circuits are great "active rest" day workouts. They get the body moving, train oft-overlooked muscles and qualities, and do so in a way that promotes blood flow without being accompanied by muscular damage. Which means these little warm up circuit workouts can improve or speed up recovery from our more muscular damaging hypertrophy workouts. Wonderful!

You only need 5-20 minutes for a great active rest day circuit. You'll break a little sweat, get to practice some quality movement, experience the thrill of brief high intensity conditioning, while also improving strength, mobility, and movement in and around the hips, core, abs, and shoulders. This all leads to a healthier, fitter, leaner, happier, and less hurt version of yourself. 

So even on your "rest" days, pick 3-4 exercises like this, pair them together in a circuit, and either do a set amount of rounds or just flow through the circuit for a specific amount of time. Who needs "rest" days when you can have productive, engaging, "active rest" days?

Your warm up and active rest workouts should feel like play! 

While these little warm up circuits only take 5-10 minutes and the positive impacts on your body and mind will be incredible.

Take your warm ups seriously. Make them fun and productive so that you don't skip them.