In commercial gyms everywhere, warming up constitutes little more than spending 10 or 15 minutes on a bike, treadmill or stair climber. While better than nothing, this approach to warming up is largely a waste of time in that it will not improve flexibility, does not involve the whole body or major functional movements, misses an ideal opportunity for reinforcing and practicing some technical exercises and poorly prepares an athlete for rigorous athletic training. We need a warm-up that will increase body temperature and heart rate, provide some stretching, stimulate the entire body and major biomechanical functions, provide practice for basic movements, and finally, prepare us for the upcoming workout.
I have also found that the warm-up is a great time to work on skills and drills that are more complicated such as overhead squats, cleans and agility movements. There is a running joke around my facility that involves the veteran members watching for the reactions of newbies when I tell them the “warm up” for the day’s workout.
You see, a typical “warm up” at my place may be much like, if not more, than a workout many may endure at a commercial gym. The idea behind this concept is to inevitably prepare them for what is in store. … You wouldn’t just jump in your car first thing on a cold morning and screech off down the street in fear of blowing the engine, would you? Well, your body deserves at least the same respect.
In this column, I will give you a standard warm up that I may use with my clients and group workouts. Feel free to take it, use as your own and even add or substitute exercises or skills. Remember, a good warm up may be the key to you firing on all cylinders and keeping you safe from injury.
I always like to start out the day with a light 200-400m jog or some agility drills for working on foot speed. We will then break into groups and perform some calisthenics and running technique; drills that I call “High Knees, Butt Kickers” (getting their name from literally trying to kick yourself in the butt with your heel, promoting good knee flexion). Then, clients are asked to perform a short, three round, circuit of air squats or overhead squats with a PVC pipe, pushups, sit ups, back extensions and pull ups to assure that the body is completely ready to work.
A warm up like the one I am describing can quite easily become more than a warm up. In fact, it can serve as a workout for any athlete, if so constructed. The idea is to compose the essential features into a 15-minute circuit that challenges but does not burn you out before the actual workout.
After all of this is complete, we will work on any exercises that will be done in the workout itself. I label this “technique” for my client’s benefit. However, this is merely an extension of the warm up. I feel that this is a very important part to the workout seeing how we may be doing exercises that day that may involve a little more skill and one can never have too much practice.
Much like a basketball player will shoot around and run through plays before the game to promote muscle memory, you should do the same for your game or workout. You see, if you are like me and have no true “sport” to focus on anymore, then the workout is now the sport and every day we should strive to get better. As you know, getting better involves practice and the warm-up is a great place to do that to avoid any extra time spent in the gym.
Call it what you want: greasing the groove, priming the pump or just warming up. Whatever the case may be, I suggest that you begin to incorporate an actual warm up before each and every training session.
If you have any questions about incorporating a proper warm up to your training regimen, feel free to e-mail me for ideas. So the next time you walk in the gym, have a purpose to not only get a great workout but to get better! Thank you for allowing me to be your personal trainer, Albany, and as always, thanks for reading The Herald!

E-mail fitness columnist Kris Morrill, certified personal trainer and owner of World Camp Fitness in Albany, at kris@worldcampfitnesstraining.com.