5 Warm Up Exercises to Incorporate into Your Workout Routine

Nowadays, we are all pressed for time. Whether you have little ones at home you need to get back to, friends to meet up with, are studying, or have something else to take care of—making time for your workout can be stressful. Often, gym-goers jump right into their exercise, skipping the warm-up altogether to save a few minutes. “What does a warm-up do for me anyway?” You might wonder.

Well, it turns out it does a whole lot. Like to help you prevent injury and muscle soreness. 

The good news is, your warm-up doesn’t need to take up a ton of time. Not if you work the correct muscle groups and do the right dynamic warm-up exercises. So, today we want to give you our top warm-up exercises you can do to start your workout on the right foot.

A List Of Warm-Up Exercises

1 | March In Place

Marching in place is the perfect dynamic warm-up to do right before almost any workout. It gets your hip flexors, arms, and core warm. And, though you might not realize it, this simple movement challenges your balance as well. Helping you have a stronger core in the long run.

To March In Place:

• Stand with your feet hip-distance apart
• Bend your arms as you would when going on a walk
• Lift and lower your right foot while simultaneously moving your left arm forward
• Repeat the movement on the opposite side

This should feel very similar to your normal walk. The main difference is, you will set your intention on the lifting and lowering of your knees and movement of your arms. While a walk is very natural-looking, this movement will look like a forward march—just right in place.

2 | High-Knees

High-knees work your calves, quads, hamstrings, and core—making this move an effective warm-up that can even be a part of your workout routine. In a leg or cardio workout, we love this exercise to fire up your muscles in all of the right places and get them ready for some TLC.

To Practice High-Knees:

• Stand with your feet hip-distance apart
• Bend your arms so that your hands are hovering in front of you just above your hips
• Lift your right leg until your knee touches your hand (be sure not to lower your hand)
• Repeat the movement on the opposite side

When you first get started, you might feel tight mobility. Meaning, your knees might not be able to reach as high as you would like. Challenge yourself to hit your hand, and move it slightly higher when the exercise gets easier for you. 

3 | Step Jacks

On our virtual fitness platform, iChuze Fitness, you will notice that our Coaches and Instructors often use step jacks as a warm-up. This movement is a great, low-impact exercise that will start to elevate your heart rate while also stretching your major muscle groups. Think of it as a jumping jack, but without the jump.

To Do A Step Jack:

• Start by standing with your feet together and arms at your sides
• Step your right foot out to the side while simultaneously bringing your arms above your head
• Move back to starting position, lowering your arms back to your sides
• Repeat this on your left side
• Continue until for your desired warm-up time

By removing the impact on your joints, this is an excellent exercise for those with any sort of knee pain or to get you ready for a full jumping jack warm-up.

4 | Jumping Jacks

This workout is terrific for getting your hip flexors fired. While we typically move on a sagittal plane (movements like walking, jogging, marching, etc.), a jumping jack forces you to work on the frontal plane, moving your legs to the side and back to center. This helps you flex and bend where your muscles typically are not worked and is a great area to focus on during a stretch or warm-up.

How To Do A Jumping Jack: 

• Stand straight with your feet together and arms at your sides
• Jump while extending your feet to hip-width
• As you move your feet, bring your arms up over your head until they are almost touching (some folks even choose to clap)
• Then, jump back, returning to starting position

5 | Trunk Rotation

For one movement on the final plane of motion, the transverse plane, try a trunk rotation.

To Do A Trunk Rotation: 

• Stand with your feet about hip-distance apart and your knees slightly bent
• With your hands on your hips or out to the side, twist your body to the right
• Come back to the center
• Repeat on the other side

This is a simple movement that should give you quite a stretch. Since we don’t typically move on this plane, we can really feel the movement in our back, up through our shoulders, and in the sides of our bodies.

A warm-up is an essential part of any exercise or strength training routine. You should never skip a warm-up. There is plenty of space for any dynamic warm-up at all of our locations. If you would like to be guided by one of our instructors, you can also find warm-ups and stretches on our virtual fitness platform, iChuze Fitness. Give it a try for free today!

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