Basic, full-body warm-up

Intellectually, I know that warm-ups are very important for preparing my body for physical activity. In reality, though, I struggle with warming up properly. Usually, I either find myself resistant to the idea of working out at all or too impatient to jump into the actual workout. If you’re not sure how to get started, here is a basic, full-body warm-up that will hopefully get both me and you off the starting block and ready to train:

2-3 minutes easy cardio activity (treadmill, rower, bike, elliptical, jump rope, etc.)

10 head rolls

10 shoulder rolls

10 PVC pass throughs

5 PVC around the worlds (both directions)

10 good mornings with the PVC pipe

10 wrist circles (both directions)

10 hip openers (each leg)

10 leg swings (each leg; both forward and backward and side-to-side)

20-30 seconds forward bend stretch

10 ankle circles (each leg; both directions)

20-30 seconds calf stretch (each leg)

20-30 seconds sumo squat stretch

10 cat cow stretches

10 hip lifts

This is only one possible routine you could use to warm up. Feel free to do your own favorite routine as well. There are so many different ways to go about warming up, and variety is the spice of life! I will be adding more warm-up routines in future posts.