What constitutes a warm up?

I would mention it. It doesn't seem quite right to me. I would feel like I needed to warm up myself before walking into class.

my lifting warm-up is usually a few sets of much lesser weight than my working weight on my first lower body movement and first upper body movement.

lorrpb wrote: »

One of my fitness class instructors doesn't do what I consider a proper warm up. She just tells us to take it easy on the first 100 or so reps which involves 4 exercises, done on different muscle groups. This is all TRX work like squats, rows, chest press etc. It never feels the same to me as when the owner/head trainer does a thorough 15 min warmup of all muscle groups before going into TRX or a circuit.

What do you think? Is this a valid warmup and I should just suck it up? Or should I talk to the owner about my concerns?

What the instructor does sounds more reasonable to me. An easier version of what you plan to do during the workout.

I do whatever it feels like my body needs that day. Whether I need some short cardio to actually warm up or just some dynamic movement, rolling, and warmup sets.

I know how I need my body to feel before I touch my first working weight and I do what I need to get there.

Iron_Miss_Canada wrote: »

I do whatever it feels like my body needs that day. Whether I need some short cardio to actually warm up or just some dynamic movement, rolling, and warmup sets.

I know how I need my body to feel before I touch my first working weight and I do what I need to get there.

This^

My warm up is ever changing. You need to do what you need to do to get you moving through the right ranges of motion.

For example: if I wake up and my hip is extra grumbly I'll spend extra time digging around in my glute and my QL to counteract the problem. If it's not being an issue, that's time wasted where I could be doing something more productive/addressing a different problem.

I do generally do a calisthenic circuit to get blood flowing through all the tissues and get the heart rate elevated slightly before I touch some weight - but I'll generally have done some movement to test stuff out, any necessary MFR type stuff to address what I've found and a short walk first.

So OP, if you feel you need a warm-up to get you ready for the warm-up, as @DavPul says, turn up 15 mins early and do what you need specifically before hitting the general blood-pumping/heart rate raising part of the warm-up and getting into the main work.

I walk on a gradient on the treadmill for 10 mins just to get my heart rate up. It also works my calves quite a bit before I start running so I guess it warms up my legs as well.

Jump rope for about 12-15 minutes in 5 minute intervals. Rest period of about 2-3 minutes at most. Great for fat loss too, when done on an empty stomach. You'll shred real nice.

I'm an old man. If I don't start slowly and get warm I just might break. You gotta go with how you feel about your instructor's approach.

Something to elevate your heart rate while doing a non or only very lightly strenuous version of the exercise you are warming up for and/or something to take you through the range of motion for said exercise.

There are two types of "warm ups". Personally in addition to the 5-ish minutes of the below I also start with some stretches and self-myofascial release before i work out. I also perform these and the following for a 5-10 minute cool down period at the end of my workout.

Anyway....

One is a specific warm up. This includes performing low intensity exercises that mimic the movements you will perform that day. The intention here is to slowly raise your heart rate and getting the body ready to perform the exercises with a higher load. An example of this would be: performing body weight squats (or jump squats) before your leg day, Performing some push ups before your chest day, maybe doing some rowing before your back day, etc. This can also include performing the exercises with very low weight. Like performing bench press with no weight on the bar, or performing squats with no weight on the bar before loading up.

The other is a "general" warm up. This includes performing low intensity cardiovascular exercise to raise your heart rate. However, these exercise include movements that do not necessarily relate to the more intense exercise to follow. For example, brisk walking, jump roping, eliptical, or stair stepper.

A warm up is beneficial in that it increases heart and respiratory rate, increases body temperature, and allows time for psychologically prepare for your session. To me, it sound like you ARE performing a warm up. Just a specific one, not a generic one like you were previously.

lorrpb wrote: »

rabbitjb wrote: »

lorrpb wrote: »

pondee629 wrote: »

"What constitutes a warm up?"

Any movement that gets you started slowly, building up to your full exercise routine. A special "warm up" routine, walking, riding the stationary bike, even doing your exercise routine slowly, at first, and/or with lighter (real light) weights. Any movement that gently gets you started.

Yeah, that's my issue with the instructors approach. I dont experience it as gentle and gradual.

Is that because you don't follow the instruction to take it easy?

If too uncomfortable do 10 mins on a cardio machine beforehand

No it's because the class format is to do 650 reps in 45 min and I'm already the slowest one in the class . Also I have some physical issues that benefit from a thorough warmup. I'm actually quite good at following directions thank you. This is a small studio and there are no cardio machines, so I'll just have to make up another kind of warmup.

My advice is to run through some general movement patterns: Start by moving your neck, shoulders, T-spine, hips/glutes and legs through some easy movement patterns. Think of this like a quick "scan" to evaluate where your body is that day. Just take a few minutes here, it's not an actual warm up. This step is general and you would run some version of this every time. You may evolve the moves you use here as time goes by, but find stuff that touches tip to toe and doesn't take a week...

Then act on the data you gained in the first step - focus on areas that were found to be tight/problematic in the first step. Do a bit of work and then use whatever movement you used in the 1st step to identify the problem to see if you're getting looser. Rinse/repeat until you're happy that you're fluid through a full rage of motion. This step might take 5-10 mins depending on how you feel. It is specific to the issues you have that day.

Thirdly, you would do 5-10 mins of a light circuit to raise your heartbeat, get blood pumping and wake up the CNS. I personally circuit jumping jacks, reverse lunges with hands moving through a range of motion to overhead, and overhead squats (air squats would be fine). I then do a few sets of something explosive before I touch a weight, but this probably wouldn't apply for you here. This step might take 5 mins if you constantly move and exclude the explosive/jump work.

That's 15-20 mins tops and will leave you free moving, a light sweat, slightly elevated heartrate and (if you do the explosive stuff) a fully armed and operational battle station, er I mean CNS.

lorrpb wrote: »

rabbitjb wrote: »

lorrpb wrote: »

pondee629 wrote: »

"What constitutes a warm up?"

Any movement that gets you started slowly, building up to your full exercise routine. A special "warm up" routine, walking, riding the stationary bike, even doing your exercise routine slowly, at first, and/or with lighter (real light) weights. Any movement that gently gets you started.

Yeah, that's my issue with the instructors approach. I dont experience it as gentle and gradual.

Is that because you don't follow the instruction to take it easy?

If too uncomfortable do 10 mins on a cardio machine beforehand

No it's because the class format is to do 650 reps in 45 min and I'm already the slowest one in the class . Also I have some physical issues that benefit from a thorough warmup. I'm actually quite good at following directions thank you. This is a small studio and there are no cardio machines, so I'll just have to make up another kind of warmup.

It's an exercise class, not a competition. Don't worry about being the slowest in the class if you feel that you could injure yourself by keeping up. Do 550 reps is that's what's up. Like I said before, all suspension trainer exercises can be heavily modified. A grandmother that's new to exercise can get a safe and effective workout and a professional athlete can be challenged hard enough to make her beg for mercy in the same class. Adjust to make the class suit your needs