Hey Christine,

I saw this picture online the other day and had to chuckle. Silly picture but there is truth to it.

When we were younger we could get away with all sorts of insults to our body and come out of it scott free. Not so much as we get older.

And so, before you workout, it is essential to warm up your body. Warm-ups can be thought of as the on-ramp you use before merging onto a highway — it's a gentle transition from being completely stagnant to being totally active

Why warm up?

A good warm up will lower your risk of injury, make your workout more efficient and get you into the right headspace. Moreover, your workout is more pleasant when you gradually ramp up the intensity with a good warm-up, rather than, say, running 400-meter repeats cold…in which case you’d probably feel pretty awful and want to stop immediately.

There are a couple of ways to warm up, the simplest being to just move. This could be a walk, a light jog or any form or light cardio but if you are going to lift weights then you want to make sure you move in all the ranges of motion you are about to lift the weights in.

Not only does it warm up the muscles you are about to work, sometimes you identify a pain or stiffness you may not have noticed before you start moving. Giving you a chance to work it out, or avoid any movements that may aggravate it.

So What are the Best Warm Up Exercises?

There is no perfect warm up, or perfect workout for that matter, but I really like these Core 3 movements. They cover every joint and get your blood flowing to all the important areas!

Cat cows.

These are such a gentle lovely warm up that are all about getting our spine moving and getting us connected with our breath.

1. Begin on your hands and knees in table pose, with a neutral spine. As you inhale and move into cow pose, lift your sit bones upward, press your chest forward and allow your belly to sink.
2. Lift your head, relax your shoulders away from your ears, and gaze straight ahead.
3. As you exhale, come into cat pose while rounding your spine outward, tucking in your tailbone, and drawing your pubic bone forward.
4. Release your head toward the floor — just don’t force your chin to your chest. Most importantly, just relax.

Spiderman Lunge with Rotations

This is a great dynamic warm up that continues to warm up your spine but also involves your hips and shoulders.

1. Begin with your right leg forward, foot flat, knee over your ankle and your left leg back, knee grounded.
2. As you inhale reach your right hand up to the ceiling, being sure to rotate your ribs and gaze up towards the celing as well.
3. As you exhale bring that hand back down towards the ground.
4. Repeat 5 - 10 x and then switch sides.

Wall Slides

This is a great warm up for your upper back, core and shoulders. Our shoulders are the most prone to injury of all joints and so getting them warmed up is essential!

1. With your body against a wall, exhale and press your elbows into the wall at approximately shoulder height.
2. As you inhale, rotate your arms until your hands reach as close to the wall as possible.
3. As you exhale, press your hands as far overhead as you can while maintaining a connection with the wall the whole time and keeping your hips and spine neutral.
4. Release and repeat.

Tip! If this is too hard then try this same exercise while lying on the floor.

Body Weight Exercises

And then finish with some body weight or a lightly weighted version of whatever is in your workout. For example if you're doing chest press today then start with a few body weight pushups. If you're doing deadlifts then do some body weight squats first.

Now that you have warmed up all your joints it's time to get moving! But don't forget the importance of a cooldown. This is where you can work on your flexibility and hold your stretches!

Hope you are all having a great day!

xo Christine