How To Properly Warm-Up Before A Workout!

A little-known fact about me is that prior to working in the hemp industry I worked for several years in the fitness industry! Long before those days, I was what the youngsters call a “gym rat” and could often be found doing two a day workouts while also jogging to and from our apartment gym building. Needless to say, I’ve tried nearly every trick in the book, learned through personal injury and in the end I found a relatively solid plan for my pre, during and post-workout routine. Now that I’m not nearly as young and significantly further from any kind of gym I mainly do my workouts from home which honestly suits me just fine and the #1 most important part of my workout will always be my warm-up.

ANY kind of workout be it heavy lifting, a simple jog or high-intensity interval training, the very first thing that you should ALWAYS do is warm-up. There should never be any skimping here because this is the easiest way to hurt yourself. Think of it this way. Unless you’re one of those crazies out there (you know who you are) when you get into the shower you’re not going to start out cold and you aren’t going to start out at the very hottest setting either. You’ll set it in a nice comfortable middle ground to get your body used to it before probably bumping it up a bit as you go. Working out is the same way. You need to get your body ready before you go full speed ahead which is why the warm-up is SO SO important! I also always have some kind of amazing pre-workout snack(I’ll be sharing a recipe tomorrow for #FoodieFriday so don’t miss it!) I take a full dose of Pure Hemp Botanicals CBD tincture about 15-30 minutes before I start my warm-up and I truly wish I had used the same back in my heavy lifting days. I’ll also ice some Hemptealicious Peppermint Mate tea and drink it during my warm-up or even my workout if I need a little boost of energy!

So for those of you looking for an awesome warm-up routine or anyone who just wants to mix up their current routine. Here is my most commonly used warm-up!

To start you’ll 1-2 minutes of jumping rope OR if you’re like me jumping jacks. I prefer to not use a jump rope because 1. It scares my dog and she barks at me the whole time and 2. I almost always hit myself at some point. But for the rest of you coordinated folks jumping rope works just the same. This just helps to get your heart rate going before you warm-up the rest of your body!

From there you’ll start with your arms!

Forearm warm-up:

30-45 seconds each direction.

Full Arm warm-up:

30-45 seconds each direction.

Shoulder warm-up:

30-45 seconds each direction.

On to the hip/leg area!

Sumo Squat or Body Weight Squat. Pick your poison on these. I prefer Sumo! Do as many as you can in 40 seconds. Make sure you pause in the squat position for a moment to get the most out of it!
Do as many hip lunges as you can in 20 seconds (usually 5-10 on each leg)
Do as many knee rotations as you can in 20 seconds, be sure to do both legs!
Do the same on hip rotations as many as you can do in 20 seconds!

Last but not least, CORE warm-up!

30-40 Torso bends
10 seconds of planking, 5 seconds of rest, repeat 5 times.
10 Russian twists, 5 seconds of rest, repeat 5 times.

Then I get up and get myself going! If I know that I’m going to be working a specific area a lot harder than others then I usually beef up the warm-up for that area and lighten up some others but I ALWAYS warm-up full body because in the end you really do use your whole body for it all, you just may not notice it as much.

Make sure you get your tincture here and use it during your full workout routine for added benefits!