How to Warm Up for a Lower Body Lift (In Less Than 10 Minutes)

When prepping for a lower body lift, it’s important to be mindful of how we spend the first 5 to 15 minutes priming the body for the demands that we are about to impose on it. For this reason, I decided to create one version of many, to warm up for a lower body lift.

I typically start with 5 minutes of cardio. For a light day, I might run. For a moderate day, I’ll Erg. For a heavy day, I’ll bike.

I typically start with a modified Sun Salutation A to connect my breathing and movement. This engages the parasympathetic nervous system and allows the body to gain additional mobility during the warm-up by decreasing muscle spasticity and opening up space to move.

Yoga also reminds me that the body is one unit. Oftentimes, I hone in on one region instead of looking at the big picture. Focusing on just the shoulder pain for an injured athlete instead of understanding how the contralateral hip affects its movement pattern is too narrow-minded. Only doing a set of squats or lunges before setting out on a long run is missing the big picture. Remember to think of the body as one unit, and that each joint or body region is connected like chain links - one always affects the other.

The second part of the warm-up is a modified version of the McGill 3, a common sequence utilized in the sports medicine world. It’s a great activation series, and the consistency always gets me in the mindset to lift.

The final aspect is a banded external rotation sequence, followed by banded hip flexion with triple extension. All of these movements prime the hips and core to allow for the ideal positioning of the trunk, hips, and knees during a squat, RDL, lunge, or the like.