Pre-Workout Warm Up Exercise Routine

One of the most neglected aspects of weight training and one of my biggest pet peeves is NOT performing a proper warm up. How often have you seen a novice lifter walk into the gym right off the street, and then go straight into a set of bench presses or bicep curls?

(Note: I hope you aren't that guy, and if you are then you really need to watch this video below :-)

This exact scenario happened not too long ago at the gym when
I was in the middle of my workout and it was down right sad...

This skinny young guy walked in by himself, I'd say he was in
his early 20's. He went over to the bench press, tossed his
jacket on the rack next to him and then put 185 on the bar.

He plopped his butt down on the bench, un-racked the bar, and
it dropped like a rock and literally stapled him to the bench!
All he could do was yell out "Help!"

I was amazed that someone could be so stupid...

First to attempt a 1 rep max with no warm up,
and second to do it with out having a spotter.

Anyway, I walked over deadlifted the bar off his chest,
racked it for him, and just shook my head in disbelief.
I didn't need to say a word, he was already embarrassed
enough as it was.

While he maybe lucky and get away with this kind of careless
training for a little while, he is eventually going to get
seriously hurt, it's just a matter of time.

The stronger you get, the more intensity you can generate
with your training, and the more important doing a proper
warm up becomes.

That's why I just posted up a YouTube video showing my personal warm up exercise ritual that I like to perform before each and every workout I do in the gym. It only takes about 10 minutes, and trust me it's time well invested.

The key here is to simply get the blood flowing, elevate your core temperature, warm up your tendons, joints, and ligaments and prepare your body both mentally and physically for the workout that's to follow.

Check out the video clip below to see my personal "Pre-Workout Warm Up Ritual"...