Warming up

What works

Warm up every session and treat it as part of the training, not an optional preamble. Kelly and Juliet Starrett call thorough warm-up "non-negotiable" for adults and athletes, suggesting 15 to 20 minutes of getting hot and accessing the day's movement positions (The Ready State on TikTok), and observe that the best athletes treat preparation as essential rather than just breaking a sweat (Instagram). Pat Davidson calls thorough warming up crucial before heavy training, especially with age, budgeting about 20 minutes across shoulders, back, and core (Instagram). Judd Lienhard budgets 10 minutes of movement prep plus 1 to 2 warm-up sets per movement for strong lifters (YouTube), Jordan Shallow frames the warm-up as "a bridge between your state upon entering the gym and the state needed to perform" and values it psychologically for every client (Instagram, YouTube), and Mike Boyle builds foam rolling, mobility, and dynamic warm-up into the foundation of every session (Instagram).

Choose dynamic, full range movement over static stretching before training. Jeff Cavaliere argues against static hamstring stretches before running because they fail to prepare the muscle and can strain the low back, preferring dynamic leg swings with hip rotation (YouTube). Vonda Wright starts every workout with a dynamic warm-up (hip rotations, inchworms, deep squats, banded glute work) to counteract age-related tendon stiffening (YouTube) and recommends a daily dynamic routine that takes all joints through full range (TikTok). Judd Lienhard's template is slow, grounded flow work: walking lunges, side lunges, the world's greatest stretch, and easy bouncing, replicating the day's patterns without fatigue (YouTube, YouTube).

Sequence the warm-up from general to specific: raise temperature, then prep movement, then ramp into the day's first lift. Gray Cook uses about 5 minutes of light cardio to elevate tissue temperature before stability drills (YouTube), and Alyssa Olenick opens race warm-ups with 3 to 5 minutes of easy rowing or skiing until breathing lifts (YouTube). Michelle Boland progresses from ground work to standing and from mobility toward heart-rate work (Instagram). Bill Hartman structures sessions as warm-up and movement prep, then power and coordination, then strength, then conditioning (YouTube), and Jordan Shallow has warm-ups "progressively assimilate to loadable movements" so the line between warm-up and workout blurs (YouTube). Judd Lienhard makes the last stage semi-specific, mimicking the first exercise, such as push-ups before a pressing session (Instagram).

Ramp into lifting with light sets of the actual lifts, using slow tempo as a systems check. Pat Davidson tells average gym-goers the lifting warm-up should be quick: a few light sets of the planned lifts rather than a 20 to 30 minute production (Instagram). Jeff Cavaliere runs a "systems check" set of 10 slow reps at a 12-rep-max weight over about 90 seconds to confirm joints and muscles are ready (YouTube). Judd Lienhard warms up with slower speeds and reduced range at moderate loads, pausing and scrubbing joint angles on the way to working weight (YouTube), while Jordan Shallow warns against a rigid fixed count of feeler sets, adjusting to what the day gives (Instagram).

Bake low-amplitude elasticity work into warm-ups. Alyssa Olenick uses skipping, pogo hops, and lateral hops (3 to 5 rounds of 20 to 30 seconds) to prepare tendons and improve muscle elasticity before running (YouTube). Michelle Boland adds low-amplitude hopping and skipping for runners (Instagram), Judd Lienhard includes light plyometrics in his older-athlete warm-ups (YouTube), and the Starretts prescribe extensive movement preparation and bounding before sprinting as a durability habit (Instagram).

Prime the nervous system, not just the tissues. The Starretts want warm-ups that engage vision, timing, decision-making, and movement variability: tennis ball and partner drills, spikeball, rope flow, dance, and unscripted play (Instagram, TikTok, YouTube). They even rebrand the slot "pre-activity preparation" to force the mindset shift (Instagram). Jordan Shallow agrees the purpose of warm-up drills is to rehearse movement qualities with deliberate intent rather than merely raise heart rate (Instagram), and Gray Cook uses warm-up drills as daily self-assessment to calibrate how hard to train (YouTube).

Keep the warm-up efficient; it should ready you, not tire you. Alyssa Olenick warns against overdoing pre-race warm-ups, aiming to get warm and neurologically switched on without burning out (YouTube). Judd Lienhard designs warm-ups that ease into range, speed, and complexity "without causing fatigue" (YouTube), and the Starretts choose blood flow restriction primer protocols specifically because they do not exhaust the athlete before the session (Instagram).

For specific situations

• Runners. Alyssa Olenick's running warm-up is 3 to 4 movements for 1 to 3 rounds (20 to 30 seconds or 6 to 10 reps each) covering calves, glutes, hamstrings, and quads: calf raise variations, side step-ups, single-leg glute bridges, single-leg RDLs, plus low-grade plyometrics, with substitutions for injury history (YouTube). Before hard sessions she adds 5 minutes of easy zone 2 running and 3 to 5 pickups of 30 seconds on, 30 seconds easy (YouTube); Michelle Boland similarly adds 4 to 8 strides of 15 to 30 seconds before high intensity runs (Instagram).
• Middle-aged and older trainees. Pat Davidson extends warm-ups to about 20 minutes with age (Instagram), Judd Lienhard starts older lifters with slow isometric holds and gradually increasing range and speed, about two sets of 4 to 6 reps per drill (YouTube), and Vonda Wright treats the dynamic warm-up as the direct antidote to age-related tendon and ligament tightening (YouTube).
• Arthritic joints and old injuries. The Starretts use blood flow restriction on a bike, 30 seconds on and 30 seconds off for three rounds, choosing high-physiology, low-skill exercises to prime tissues without fatigue for people with osteoarthritis, old ACL injuries, or post-traumatic arthritis (Instagram, TikTok). Post-ACL, warming up reduces discomfort and joint noise at the start of activity (Instagram).
• Heavy strength sessions. Judd Lienhard notes strong lifters simply need more ramp: 10 minutes of movement prep plus 1 to 2 warm-up sets per movement (YouTube). Mike Israetel offers a confidence trick for high-rep work: warm up briefly heavier than the target weight so the working weight feels light (YouTube).
• Back-pain-prone lifters. The Starretts load the hip in deep flexion during warm-ups before squats, deadlifts, or hinging to improve hip function and reduce back sensitivity (YouTube). Their "27 squats" drill (three squats each with feet straight, out, and in, across three stances) maintains hip rotation options (YouTube).
• Race day (Hyrox and similar). Olenick's sequence: 3 to 5 minutes easy erg work, light bodyweight movements, one or two light sled touches for feel, running pickups, and carbohydrate-electrolyte sips during the warm-up that stop 10 to 20 minutes before the start to avoid an insulin dip (YouTube).

Open questions

• Does warming up prevent injury? The Starretts state plainly that warm-ups do not prevent injuries; their value is performance enhancement through tissue temperature and nervous system activation (Instagram, TikTok). Pat Davidson credits thorough warm-ups with preventing injury before heavy training (Instagram), Alyssa Olenick says running warm-ups reduce injury risk (YouTube), and Jordan Shallow links preparation before barbell lifts to reduced injury risk (YouTube). The honest synthesis: warming up reliably improves session quality; its injury-prevention effect is claimed by several credible voices but explicitly disputed by the Starretts as a standalone shield.
• How long should it take? Pat Davidson tells average gym-goers to skip 20 to 30 minute routines in favor of a few light sets (Instagram), yet prescribes about 20 minutes for older or beat-up trainees before heavy work (Instagram), while the Starretts advocate 15 to 20 minutes and even arriving 30 minutes early so training time is pure performance (TikTok). Read together, duration is conditional, scaling with age, injury history, session load, and level, exactly as Jordan Shallow argues when he distinguishes professional athletes from beginners (YouTube).
• Warm-up as mobility time. The Starretts draw a hard line: activation and coordination work prepares the system but does not change it, so real range-of-motion restoration needs its own time outside the session (Instagram, TikTok). Gray Cook happily houses corrective exercises inside warm-ups and cool-downs (Instagram) and adds light loads (10 to 40 pounds) to mobility drills to make them count (YouTube). The positions reconcile if corrective work in warm-ups is viewed as rehearsal while dedicated mobility practice does the changing.

Cautions

• If a movement pattern is missing entirely, such as being unable to take the arms overhead, a few arm swings in the warm-up will not fix it; that deficit needs dedicated work outside the session (Starretts, TikTok).
• Do not let the warm-up become the workout: over-warming before races or heavy sessions costs performance (Olenick, YouTube).

Putting it into practice

• Schedule a warm-up for every session with a default of 10 to 20 minutes, scaling up for older trainees, heavy lifting days, and injury histories, and down to a brisk ramp for time-poor general trainees (Starretts, Davidson, Lienhard).
• Use a three-stage template: 3 to 5 minutes of easy cardio to raise temperature, then 3 to 5 dynamic movements from ground to standing covering the day's joints and patterns, then ramped light sets of the first exercise (Cook, Olenick, Boland, Lienhard, Shallow).
• Replace pre-training static stretching with dynamic full-range drills such as leg swings, inchworms, deep squats, lunge flows, and banded activation (Cavaliere, Wright, Lienhard).
• Include 2 to 3 minutes of low-amplitude elasticity work (skipping, pogo hops, lateral hops) most days, especially before running, sprinting, or plyometrics (Olenick, Boland, Starretts, Lienhard).
• On lifting days, finish the ramp with a slow-tempo systems check set (about 10 controlled reps at a comfortable 12RM load) before touching working weights (Cavaliere, Lienhard).
• For clients with arthritis or old joint injuries, front-load a BFR bike primer of 30 seconds on, 30 seconds off for 3 rounds using simple, low-skill movements (Starretts).
• Add one reactive or game-like element (ball drills, balance challenges, unscripted movement play) per week to train coordination and keep preparation engaging (Starretts, Cook).
• Keep a consistent core of 4 to 5 warm-up movements repeated every session to build habit and provide a daily readiness benchmark, adjusting intensity based on how those movements feel (Lienhard, Cook, Shallow).

Experts in this guide: Instagram, The Ready State on TikTok, TikTok, YouTube.

Before you act. Entrain is a free knowledge resource. It brings together what named doctors, scientists and coaches teach publicly, with sources, so you can explore and discuss it with your own clinician. It does not diagnose, treat or prescribe, and it is not a substitute for medical care.