The best WARM-UP: Exercises, routines & mobility flows for your Personal Training clients.
The best WARM-UP: Exercises, routines & mobility flows for your Personal Training clients.
Do you need to warm-up before a workout? What's the best warm-up exercise? How long should you warm-up? Is foam rolling necessary? If you want to become a personal trainer, whether you are studying to pass NASM, ISSA, ACE or any other certification, you need to understand the importance of the warm-up and how to add value as the trainer. Learn all about warming up with this article, “5 of the BEST WAYS to Get Warmed Up Before a Workout.”
If you're looking to become a trainer, begin by reading THE BOOK “How to Become A Successful Personal Trainer” HERE. We can help anyone become certified (over 2,000 have passed NASM-CPT with our study guide, ACE & CSCS study guide.) Once you get certified, get into one of our internships in Austin, San Diego, Los Angeles, OR a weekend seminar.
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What is a warm-up?
A term used to describe a body moving in a way to prepare itself for the more intense workout ahead. Do we really need to warm-up? The anti-warm-up group will argue, “Cheetahs don't warm-up, why should we?” While the pro-warm-up group will be foam rolling and doing a 90-90 hip stretch debating the optimal warm-up period between 20-30-minutes? The best answer to a warm-up is& wait for it&. IT DEPENDS! Are we running a world record 100m race like Usain Bolt (9.58 seconds by the way)? Or are we a 40-year-old who's paying $100+ per hour to look and feel better? For the purpose of this article, we will be addressing a warm-up geared towards the general population, not athletes. If you want to get into the science behind stretching, start here&These results suggest that AID induces an increase in flexibility and a temporary decrease in muscle output strength.
What are the best warm-ups?
Any exercise that takes an individual through the full range of motion that will be stressed during the workout or event would be suggested. At Show Up Fitness, we take our clients through the 9-checkpoints of human movement starting with the most distal and then moving proximal: ankle, knee, hip, lumbar, thoracic, cervical (spine), shoulder, elbow, and wrist. I challenge you to be able to come up with your own exercise that hits all 9-checkpoints at one time, here's one of my favorites
5 of the BEST WAYS to Get Warmed Up Before a Workout: SHOW UP FITNESS BEST WARM-UP ROUTINES:
1. FOAM-ROLLING.
I LOVE FOAM ROLLING. I equally love to make fun of NASM for it because they have trainers wasting 10-20 minutes (5-10 min warm-up & 5-10 min cool down)- DO NOT DO THAT OR SPEND MONEY ON A FOAM ROLLING CERT! Do you think a client is SHOWING UP paying $100/ hour to foam roll? Here are the muscles that are typically the most tonic or sensitive: lateral gastrocnemius, vastus lateralis, adductors, piriformis, latissimus dorsi, upper trapezius, infraspinatus, pectoralis minor, biceps brachii & brachioradialis. If you want to learn more about “trigger points” and how to implement strategies to mitigate the high sensations of these muscles, SHOW UP TO A WEEKEND SEMINAR. When I use foam rolling, I will typically perform the movements with my client while asking great questions, this helps them prepare psychologically for the workout as foam rolling isn't very intimidating. 2-3 minutes is all you need.
2. Body Weight Warm-Up.
The following is the warm-up that I do with 99% of newbie clients. I start with leg raises, ankle grabs, toe touches deep squats and mirroring exercises. The purpose is to observe balance, coordination, and basic conditioning- if a client is huffing and puffing from this warm-up, I know to dial back the intensity of the workout. I am always thinking about the 9-checkpoints for the warm-up and will spend 2-3 minutes before we get into the first circuit as we teach in the internship: core, core, accessory. To learn more about our ONLINE internship program and how to become a personal trainer, get your first 3-days FREE HERE.
3. Hip 90-90 stretch.
The 90-90 hip stretch is great for athletes, tight hip and intermediate – advanced clients. I'm addressing eccentric control and looking for dead space to strengthen to help prevent injuries (passive ROM that we can get to but not control.) There are so many progressions and CON ED courses / seminars that are awesome like Functional Range Conditioning from Dr. Andreo Spina and instructors Hunter Cook aka Hunterfitness on IG.
4. Pallofs.
Most people butcher this exercise and the inventors name John Pallof is a licensed physical therapist specializing in the evaluation and treatment of orthopedic conditions HERE. The Pallof is an anti-rotation EXERCISE, not a pattern of movement. This exercise challenges the core in the transverse plane of motion, so core strength needs to be established first with anterior and lateral planks.
5. BEST WARM-UP ROUTINE EVER.
At Show Up Fitness we're all about trainer engagement. I see trainers at Equinox and Lifetime sitting on their asses, staring off into space or on the phone / Ipad uninterested in the training session. This is a big reason why 90% of trainers quit within the first year of getting certified. If you want to turn your passion for fitness into a career, learn how to HELP NICK (acronym used in THE BOOK mentioned above) and get engaged during your sessions. Your retention will be high, and clients will have fun working with you. Here is the best warm-up routine you should be doing with your clients with examples from our weekend seminars:
Runner up's for great warm-ups: running a mile, plank variations (sneak peek into our 2-month in-person personal training internships in San Diego with instructor Meagan Harbison..)
To read more on the science behind the warm-up and the variations used (dynamic, PNF, static as mentioned in this article by the ISSA), start with these articles:
A Meta-Analysis of the Effects of Foam Rolling on Performance and Recovery
How Does Foam Rolling Work? And Why “SMR” Should Be Called “SMT” with Bret Contreras, Todd Hargrove and Greg Lehman.
John Rusin – The PERFECT 10 Minute Warm Up
PreHab Guys – THE BEST DYNAMIC WARMUP BEFORE YOUR WORKOUT
EXOS Pilar Prep & Movement Prep
Nick Tumminello – Dynamic Warm-Up
The best warm-ups – Eric Cressey
Tim Ferris warm-up w/ Strong First Pavel Tsatsouline
Jeff Nippard – The Most Effective Science-Based Warm Up & Mobility Routine (Full Body)
Athlean X – 10 Best Mobility | Flexibility Drills (PRE-WORKOUT)
You do not need a certification to become a personal trainer. 50% of our interns are NOT certified and the others choose to get NASM, ACE, ISSA or NSCA's CSCS during the in-person internship in San Diego, Los Angeles or Austin. We have a NASM study guide, ACE study guide, & CSCS study guide that can get you to pass within 30-60 days HERE.
Written by Chris Hitchko