Easy Warm-Up Exercises

If you want to avoid injury and have a more enjoyable and beneficial workout, you need to take your warm-up seriously. A good warm-up should last between five and ten minutes. By the end of that time, you should have increased your heart rate and prepared your muscles for the work to come.

In this article, we’ll lay out half a dozen easy warm-up exercises that you can make use of to prepare for your workout.

Warm-Up #1: Jogging on the Spot

1. Start running on the spot by lifting your legs up and down but not moving forward. Jog slowly for 30 seconds.

2. For the next 30 seconds, place your hands palms down at hip level and bring your knees up to touch your hands as you jog in place,

3. For the next 30 seconds, bring your feet behind you in an exaggerated movement to kick your butt as you jog.

Warm-Up #2: Heel Digs

1. Stand with feet shoulder-width apart and arms by your sides.

2. Step the left foot forward and dig the heel into the floor, keep the toe pointed toward the ceiling. Maintain a  slight bend in the right leg.

3. As you dig the heel into the floor, punch your arms forward. 

4. Quickly move back and forth between the legs, until you have done a total of 60 heel digs.

Warm-Up #3: Knee Lifts

1. Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart and arms by your sides, maintaining a neutral spine position and keeping your core tight. 

2. Lift your right knee directly up as you bring your right hand across to touch the opposite knee. Maintain a knee. Maintain a slight bend in the non-working knee. 

3. Repeat this action with the opposite hand and knee.

4. Complete 30 total knee lifts as quickly and efficiently as possible. 

Warm-Up #4: Shoulder Roll

1. Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart and arms by your sides, maintaining a neutral spine position and keeping your core tight. 

2. Shrug your shoulders up toward your ears, the forward, around and down. In the down position, bring your shoulder blades together as you complete a full circle shoulder roll.

3. Perform five forward shoulder rolls, immediately repeated by five backward shoulder rolls.

Warm-Up #5: Knee Bends

1. Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart and arms directly out in front of you, maintaining a neutral spine position and keeping your core tight. 

2. Descend into a quarter squat and hold the position for a 5-second count.

3. Push out of the squat.

4. Repeat 10 times. 

Warm-Up #6: Lunges

1. Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart and arms by your sides, maintaining a neutral spine position and keeping your core tight. 

2. Take a large step forward with your right foot.

3. Maintaining an upright torso lower until the rear knee is about two inches from the floor.

4. Hold this position for a five second count.

5. Push out of the lunge position to return to the starting position. 

6. Do 5 reps on every leg.

Wrap Up

Warming up is a necessary part of every workout, whether you are doing a cardio, weights or combination training session. The easy workout provided here will elevate your heart beat while also preparing your muscles for the effort ahead. Feel free to use it as the intro to your next workout.