The Best Full Body Warmup Exercises

Working out routinely is a fantastic way to improve and maintain your health. But, if you’re not warming up before your workout, you’re missing out on getting the most out of our workout.

You may be eager and ready to jump right into your workout. However, spending time for a proper warm-up is very important. Warming up your body before a workout can help you make the most of your training session and reduce the chance of injury, while helping you become more athletic.

Basic stretching exercises like reaching for your toes may increase your range of motion but you want to get your entire body ready. These stretches tell your body to relax the muscles protecting your joints. When you need protective mechanisms for stability during heavy lifting sessions, basic stretches might not be your best bet.(1)

You might think of warm-up exercises as key to getting blood flow while making muscles and tendons ready for a workout. This is partially true; however, a warm-up should also activate your central nervous system (CNS), preparing it for the actual workout. The best way to achieve this is through dynamic movements which are similar to what you will be doing during your workout.(2)

The best warm-up exercises are the ones that closely mimic what you will be doing during your training session. For instance, bodyweight squats are excellent as a warm-up movement for barbell squats while banded rows help you connect to your back muscles before pulling exercises like barbell rows.

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The perfect warm-up should focus on:

• Mobility
• Joint stabilization
• Increasing body temperature
• Increasing blood flow to your joints and muscles

Warming up not only helps you with mobility and joint stabilization improving and optimizing your range of motion but also increases body temperature and blood flow to prepare for the workout.

The goal is to improve durability which makes you injury resilient and more powerful during your workout. 

A good warm-up is just what the doctor ordered!! Here are some of the few benefits of warmup before a workout: 

A warmup gradually strengthens your cardiovascular system, increasing muscle functioning and allowing more oxygen to be available for your muscles. This helps you to perform strenuous tasks with greater ease.(3)

Warmups focus on mobility (not just cardio), giving you the necessary range of motion to perform your exercises to the greatest effect. A full range of motion will allow you to attain the full benefits of any given resistance exercise.(4)

You may have felt sore from a previous workout, affecting our ability to exercise the next day. You will have noticed a warmup before a workout helps reduce soreness and tension in your muscles by loosening you up and increasing your blood flow, improving your all-around performance. 

Warming up not only improves muscle elasticity and cooling efficiency but also enables you to be more injury-resilient and avoid overheating during your workout.(5)

Training your mind is as important as training your body. Your mind plays an important role. Most of the time, your mind gives up before your body.

Keep in mind that a warmup will gradually prepare your mind for a workout. Diving straight into it without warming up doesn’t allow your mind to prepare for the full workload. 

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Here is a list of my 10 favorite warm up exercises:

1. Bodyweight squats
2. High-Low Plank
3. Bird dog
4. Banded row
5. Inchworm
6. Wall angels
7. Low Lunge With T-Spine Rotation
8. Quadruped Cat-Cow
9. Arm circles with reach
10. Fast Feet 

Bodyweight squats are a fantastic warmup exercise for the glutes, hip flexor muscles, quadriceps, abs, calves, and hamstrings. Squats are a compound full-body movement that helps warm up multiple muscles at a time while getting you ready mentally.

How to Perform:

1. Start by standing up with your feet apart and your toes pointing straight ahead.
2. Place your hands on your hips.
3. Bend your knees and hinge your hips backward keeping the weight on your heels.
4. Maintaining a straight back, lower your hips toward the floor.
5. Keep going lower until you feel a stretch in your quadriceps.
6. Pause and hold before going back to the starting position by pushing through your heels and extending your hips.
7. Repeat 10 times. 

Planks are generally used for strengthening the core. However, getting one done is also a way to warm up. The movement of going from a high plank to a low plank activates the core, arms, and chest.

How to Perform:

1. Get into a basic straight-arm plank with feet hip-width apart and wrists straight underneath your shoulders.
2. Hold for 45 seconds.
3. Lower left elbow to the ground, followed by the right, you are now coming into a forearm plank.
4. Hold for 30 seconds.
5. Repeat 10 times. 

The bird dog exercise is a great warm-up exercise not only for your glutes and hip flexors but also core and lower back. This movement activates your core muscles that support your spine in preparation for your workout.

How to Perform:

1. Slowly move on all fours with the hands underneath the shoulders and knees underneath the hips.
2. Keeping your spine in a neutral position, pull your shoulder blades back and down toward your hips.
3. Simultaneously, reach your right hand forward as you extend your left leg back.
4. Make sure your head and shoulders are straight and aligned.
5. Slowly lower your arm and leg to the starting position and switch sides.
6. Repeat 10 times on each side. 

Often, the exercises performed for the back are hard to feel correctly. To get the most out of these exercises proper form and the mind-muscle connection are very important. Performing a banded row will help activate your back muscles. Banded rows also warm up your shoulder blades and shoulder joints.

How to Perform:

1. Holding the resistance band handles in your hand, place the resistance band under your feet.
2. Your feet should be shoulder-width apart, with your toes pointed slightly out.
3. Keep your back flat and core engaged.
4. Pull back the handles of the resistance band, leading with your elbows and bringing your shoulder blades closer together.
5. Feel the contraction in your upper back and hold.
6. Release slowly to the starting position.
7. Repeat 10 times. 

The inchworm is an excellent exercise to help strengthen the muscles in the front body and stretch the muscles in your back. Your whole body is engaged during this active warm-up exercise. Inchworm prepares your whole body including your core, glutes, hips, shoulders, and quads.

How to Perform:

1. Start with a tall natural stance.
2. Lower from your hips and touch the floor with your fingertips or palms.
3. With your legs straight, walk your hands out until your wrists are below your shoulders without letting your hips sag.
4. You should end with your hands under your shoulders just like you were in the plank position.
5. Slowly walk your hands back to your feet and straighten back to the starting position.
6. Repeat 10 times. 

Wall angels are considered as dynamic warm-up exercise for your upper back muscles, and spine. This active stretch can not only help relieve achy and tight neck muscles but also help with neck movements. Wall angels improve your thoracic spine and shoulder mobility. This movement is perfect if you are planning on overhead presses, squats, or other exercises that include your thoracic spine mobility.

How to Perform:

1. Stand against a wall with your feet shoulder-width apart and walk your feet out two or three steps while keeping a slight bend in your knees.
2. With your core engaged, raise your hands next to your ears while placing your shoulders and arms flat against the wall.
3. Push your arms by sliding them up the wall while you maintain contact with the wall.
4. Lower your arms down steadily and repeat the movement.
5. Repeat 10 times. 

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While low lunge is a common exercise, adding a twist of spine rotation will greatly help you warm up your whole body. The low lunge is a hip opener, engaging your quads, hamstrings, abductors, adductors, and glutes. The twist also warms up your abs, chest, and shoulders.

How to Perform:

1. Start in a straight-arm plank with your hands wider than shoulder-width apart.
2. Bend your knees and shift the hips back so the knees hover about two inches off the floor.
3. Step the left foot forward, placing it directly next to the left hand.
4. Lift your right hand up as you rotate your torso to the right.
5. Lower back down to the low lunge and step the left foot back to a plank.
6. Repeat on the other side by stepping the right foot forward, lifting the left arm, and rotating to the left.
7. Repeat 6 times per side. 

This is a great move to warm up the whole body. It loosens tension in your lower back and gets the spine, neck, abs, and chest moving and ready for your workout.

How to Perform:

1. Start on all fours with your hands underneath the shoulders and knees underneath the hips.
2. Lift your head and tailbone as you drop your belly. Hold for a couple of seconds.
3. Tuck your tailbone, curl your back up, and round your head into your chest. This is one rep.
4. Repeat 15 times. 

The shoulder joints are mobile and are prone to injury. Since many of us spend most of the day sitting and working with are arms in front of our bodies, our shoulders can become tense and weakened over time. Properly warming up the shoulders by dynamically moving the joints and tissues before a workout is essential to prevent injury and activate the muscles.

Arm circles are a classic warm-up exercise you may have performed in gym class. Adding a reach will help increase your range of motion and further warm up your shoulders.

How to Perform:

1. Stand tall with your core engaged.
2. Focus on your shoulders while slowly reaching your arm back behind you until you must flip your arm around, so your palm is facing forward.
3. When you reach behind you and need to flip your palm to face up, reach as far back as possible while keeping your hips straight.
4. Flip your palm forward and circle your arm overhead until it is straight out in front of you.
5. Again, reach forward, trying to increase your range of motion while maintaining a straight core.
6. Repeat 5 times and then reverse the motion for another 5 repetitions.
7. Switch sides and repeat. 

Doing fast feet warms up your hips, legs, and feet. It also raises your heart rate, preparing your body to start the main part of your exercise routine.

1. Stand with your feet slightly wider than your shoulders, feet parallel, toes slightly turned out, and hands out in front of you.
2. Lower into a quarter squat, lift your heels, and come onto the balls of your feet.
3. Run as fast as you can in place for 15 seconds.
4. Repeat 3 times. 

Warming up your body is essential for preventing injury and preparing your body for whatever workout you're about to take on.

Warming up helps to activate your brain, getting you into the correct mindset while mobilizing your joints to prepare you for the workout. This added flexibility while reducing your chances of injury can help you become a better athlete.

When choosing your warm-up exercises, it is best to stick with those that closely mimic your training for best results.

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