3 Things to Do to Warm Up for Strength Training

In this post, I’m going to be talking about warming up for your strength training workouts. There are really three things that you want to do before you start your lifts. I’m Alicia Clark, and I’m a Master Instructor with UCanRow2 and CrossFit Level 1 Trainer, and let’s get into it.

Get Moving!

The first thing you want to do is to get your heart moving and pumping. There’s a couple ways you can do this. You can have a warmup circuit that would be a mix of different exercises, or it could be a couple minutes on your favorite cardio machine. This could be rowing, biking, running on a treadmill, using an elliptical, whatever it may be. You may be limited to whatever you have, and that’s perfectly fine too. You want something to get the heart moving and going.

Prime the Muscles

The next thing that you want to do is prime the muscles that you’ll be using in your lifts for the day. These exercises can be incorporated into a warmup circuit if that’s the style of warm up you’re doing.

What do I mean by that? Most strength training days focus on two, possibly three movement patterns. These movement patterns are your squat, hinge, push, pull, carry, and single leg unilateral work.

So, if it’s a squat day, you might be doing some lunges or working on your ankle mobility right before you get into your squats. You’re priming your body and getting it ready to squat. For deadlifts you might be incorporating some active stretches for your hamstrings to get them warmed up and ready to go. This could be for deadlifting, RDLs, or another hinge movement for the day.

If you’re pressing or pulling with your upper body for your main lift, doing similar movements will help you get warmed up. For example, if you’re benching you could do some pushups in the warmup because that’s a very similar movement. You’re moving very similarly when you do your bench press.

You want to be warming up the right muscles and getting your body ready to do the lift. These exercises can be incorporated into a warmup circuit, or it can be separate after you do a couple minutes on a cardio machine.

Warm Up Sets

The last thing you want to do are warm up sets before you get to your main weight for your big lifts. Typically, these warmup sets will be programmed in, especially if you’re working with a coach.  It’s important to build up in weight, to get your mind and body ready for the heavier weight it’s about to lift. You’ll do more warmup sets in the beginning of your training session prior to a main lift. With your accessory work, you won’t need warm up sets like you do with a main lift.

Those are the three things that you want to do. Get warm, prime the body for what you’re about to do and do some warm sets if that’s what we needed depending on your program. Hopefully, if you have a good coach, you’re already doing them!