The Best Way to Warm Up Before a Workout

Hacking Your Health Podcast

Welcome back to another edition of “Hacking Your Health.” Today we’re at the gym, and we’re here to show you our dynamic warmup that we do before we workout. Now, this statement may seem a bit odd, but hear us out. You should not do any deep stretches prior to working out. What you do want to do is warm up your muscles. By stretching them, you’re actually relaxing them, which is the last thing you want to do before a workout. We start our warm up by doing some quick dynamic stretching movements in our hamstrings and calves, but we only hold them for a few seconds each. After that, it’s time to open up those hips and shoulders by doing some quick stretching movements as well. Then we move into toy soldiers, where you kick your straight leg up to touch your hand. It’s important to remember with these that you want your leg to come up to your hand, not the other way around. You want to keep your body straight. “Focus more on rotation and range of motion and less on stretching.” Next, we do some lunges. This is another great exercise to open up the upper body and the hips. With each lunge, you want to reach up high with the arm on the same side that your knee is touching the ground on. Then we do lunges with a twist to work on that thoracic mobility and loosen up the shoulders. With all of these dynamic stretches, do about 10 to 15 reps and just hold them for a few seconds. We want you to work more on rotation and less on stretching when you begin your workouts. Opening up that mobility right away will increase stability. Then you can get into the more deep stretching after your workout is over so you can relax your muscles. If you have any questions for us or want to know more about our warm up routine, give us a call or send us an email. We look forward to hearing from you soon.