The Mathias Method Strength System emphasizes the importance of a proper warm-up before you begin any strength training routine or workout program. This is to help decrease pain, prevent injury, and fully prepare your body for the workout ahead. This page lists all of our Warm-Up Exercise Routines for Weight Training.

Get our complete How To Warm-Up Properly for Strength Training Guide today! And learn why you should NOT do cardio to warm-up before any weight training workout!

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Warm-Up Routines

• Full Body Dynamic Warm-Up Routine
• Upper Body Warm-Up Exercises
• Lower Body Warm-Up Exercises
• Muscle Activation Techniques
• Dumbbell Shoulder Warm-Up
• Olympic Weightlifting Warm-Up Stretches

See all of our Mobility Stretches or Strength Training Exercises.

For all of our specific workout based warm-up routines, you can check out our How To Warm-Up Properly Guide.

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How To Warm-Up Properly for Weight Training

A proper Warm-Up is vital for STRENGTH and strength is vital for success!

This is because strength is the basis for all other Training Goals! By becoming stronger you are better able to build muscle, lose weight, improve athleticism, prevent injury, and live a healthier lifestyle.

However, if you don’t warm-up properly, you will not be able to reach your full strength potential! Your warm-up routine is what prepares your body to perform at its best! And without it, you are only reaching a piece of your full potential.

Get our complete How To Warm-Up Properly for Strength Training Guide today!

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Don’t Ruin Your Workout

Too often I see beginners and even advanced lifters ruin their workout by:

1. They do anywhere from a 15 minute run on the treadmill to a full cardio training session before they start their strength training. (I was WRONGLY taught to do this.)
2. They walk in, load up their working set weight, and start lifting with no regards to how they are feeling that day. (Not knowing any better, I did this when I first started.)
3. Or, they lay down on a foam roller and start smashing their muscles like they are tenderizing meat. (Yup, tried that too.)

If your goal is to get stronger, perform better, build muscle or to utilize weights in any way, cardio is not the right way to warm-up, because it is NOT SPECIFIC to what you are about to do!

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Do A Complete Warm-Up Routine

A proper Weight Training Warm-Up Exercise Routine includes:

• Full Body Dynamic Warm-Up
  • First, do some full range-of-motion movements and stretches to improve your joint function and check how your body feels for that day.
  • If certain areas are in pain or do not function properly then spend some time mobilizing them to decrease pain and improve performance.
• The Daily 30 Bodyweight Warm-Up
  • Next, do a few basic bodyweight exercises to warm-up your body, muscles and joints.
  • The Daily 30 teaches you how to move properly for strength, so this piece is vital.
• Training Specific Warm-Up Exercises
  • After your body is warm, do a few stretching warm-up exercises with the main muscle groups your workout focuses on.
  • Focus on your tight muscles that prevent you from lifting with proper form.
• Muscle Activation Techniques
  • Use activation techniques to bring blood flow to your soft tissues and ensure that they are firing correctly for optimal performance.
  • This will also help with increasing your neuromuscular proprioception improving muscular function.
• Main Movement Technique Work
  • Do 3 sets of 5-10 reps with a lightweight (<50%) main movement or a bodyweight exercise to improve upon your weaknesses and reinforce proper movement patterns.
  • This is done at the start of every workout so it is not neglected.

Get our complete How To Warm-Up Properly for Strength Training Guide today!

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The Goal of your Warm-Up Exercise Routine

The goal of any warm-up exercise or routine is to better prepare your body to perform safely and optimally. This includes:

• decreasing pain,
• teaching you how to move properly,
• preventing injury,
• and how to get stronger.

All of the Mathias Method Warm-Up Routines accomplish this. Our warm-up exercise routine begins by loosening your body’s soft tissues through active mobilization allowing you to get into better, stronger positions while training.

Correcting Tight Muscles

Many of us have tight, damaged or just short muscles, tendons, and ligaments that need to be mobilized in order to get into more efficient positions. By mobilizing through active stretching and/or rolling out a muscle it is more likely to perform at an efficient rate, through better positioning and increased joint range of motion.

For muscles that are limiting your ability to get into a proper position, longer duration stretches should be utilized to let this muscle relax and lengthen, to increase range-of-motion. Stretching for a long duration while breathing properly allows for a muscle to relax, or “turn off”.

Muscle Activation

For this reason, after doing some short, and possibly longer, duration stretching to improve positioning there are activation techniques set in place to both teach the correct muscles to turn on, or activate, and bring blood flow to the muscles used during each training session.

Activation techniques are specific to each training session’s main movement. The activation techniques include balance training to improve neuromuscular proprioception, or muscle activation, and joint stability. Both mobility to improve positioning and the activation drills to teach proper muscle activity will better prepare your body to perform optimally and make you stronger.

And that is how to warm-up properly for weight training! Simply follow any of our warm-up exercise routines and you are well on your way to some great workouts!

Please see: How To Stop Losing Muscle Mass >>

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All Warm-Up Routines

• Full Body Dynamic Warm-Up Routine
• Upper Body Warm-Up Exercises
• Lower Body Warm-Up Exercises
• Muscle Activation Techniques
• Dumbbell Shoulder Warm-Up
• Olympic Weightlifting Warm-Up Stretches

See all of our Mobility Stretches or Strength Training Exercises.

For all of our specific workout based warm-up routines, you can check out our How To Warm-Up Properly Guide.