Well Warriors, it’s definitely fall where I am. I know I’m supposed to love fall, and there is plenty to enjoy, but for me it’s also sort of sad. Because winter is coming and I am absolutely not a fan of winter. Something that I think is tough for a lot of us, too, is that the change in temperature/weather makes working out a tougher mental prospect. So let me tell you about a super effective and easy warm up routine I use for cool and cold weather.
I’m going to share a secret if you promise that you won’t report me to the Fitness Police. Workout warm ups were few and far between when I was younger. If I was going to do intense cardio, sure, but otherwise, I’d just dive right in. Now if I don’t warm up, I can pretty much guarantee that it’ll be the worst workout I’ve had in some time. And recovery won’t be pretty either. Colder weather exacerbates this as my maturing joints just need more coaxing.
But I am also the same me. When I’m mentally ready to get after it, I don’t want to waste time. Thankfully, I’ve found a routine that checks all the boxes it needs to and does it quickly. We need different things based on different workouts, but luckily some of the components are the same.
Cardio Only Workouts
If cardio is the name of your workout game, you need to get the blood moving and flowing first and then maybe spend a minute with any particularly stubborn joints. The easiest way to accomplish this is to do a lower intensity level of what you have planned for 3-4 minutes. In other words, if you are going to walk, walk for your warm up. Just slower paced. Or with a shallower incline. In the second half of your time, take some mental space to check in with joints that are and will be moving. If anything feels tense, stiff, painful, or the like take a pause at the end of the time and do some simple joint mobility exercises before pushing the throttle up. Straightforward ankle rolls or knee bends might be all you need in our walking example.
Strength training needs a bit more thought. And warm up might also depend on your unique strength split. A quick cardio something is always clutch. Getting the blood flowing to the muscles helps bring the muscles what they need for exercise and raises the internal body temperature. Important if you’d like to avoid pulling a muscle. Similar to a cardio workout, you’ll want to spend a bit of mental energy checking in with joints and making notes of any that feel sluggish. But, you’ll need to spend a bit more time to ensure that joints are their best mobility wise. I’ve also found that a bit of time with simple, low level plyometrics is hugely beneficial prior to strength workouts.
Full Body Strength Workout
If I’m rocking a full body workout, I’ll usually do about 2 minutes of simple cardio. I’ve really enjoyed the Sun Salutations B series for a great full body mobility check in. I usually run through it twice. It hits every major joint complex and does so in a slow and controlled manner that allows me time to check in with each section of my body. If there is a joint that does need a bit of extra focus, I’ll add a few targeted mobility moves for those. Leg swings for hips, soft lunges for knees and ankles, arm circles for shoulders. You get the idea. These don’t need to be influencer fancy. Just get the joint(s) in question moving smoothly and steadily through a pain free range of motion. And lastly, I’ll do a few simple bounds and a few wall supported plyo push ups. This whole routine takes me probably seven minutes and makes a humongous difference.
I am a fan of functional splits in strength training. It’s just a fancy way of saying you are grouping muscles based on exercises and what they can do rather than by how much you can stress them. Functional training translates into life and the living of it much easier. As an example, someone who is trying to max out effort for hypertrophy only might group shoulders and abdominals on the same day. But if you are grouping based on function, you’ll group pectorals and triceps with front deltoids because they help each other create the same motions (pushing out in front of the body).
Split Body Strength Workout
The other great thing about functional groups is that it can help streamline the warm up process. When I’ve got a split workout planned, I’m still hitting up that two minutes of general, easy cardio to start. Again, get the blood pumping. Then, instead of doing full body Sun Salutations, I focus on the joints, muscles, and motions I’m going to expect my body to perform during the actual workout. Simple arm circles and leg swings done with control are a great way to check in with the joints, just as before.
After I’ve got a decent idea of how the specific joints are feeling, I’ll break down my big lift. (Squats, bench presses, lat pull downs, etc.) I’ll complete these without weight focusing on each section of the motion and how my body feels. This allows the blood flow to re-direct to the specific muscles. It’s great practice for complex lifts and movement patterns. You’ll be able to adjust things like stance and grip without needing to also balance a weighted bar. And you’ll have an idea of how a joint may respond to load before you load it. Again, this whole process takes about seven minutes once you’ve got it down and makes the biggest difference.
If you’d like a run down of specific exercises I use in a future post, leave a comment below!
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