Today I’m going to reveal how to warm up for your calisthenics workouts.
If you are getting injured all the time, THIS might be just the reason why.
In this post you will learn PRECISELY how you can use your warm up to:
- get results faster
- prevent injuries
- get most out of your training
So without further delay, let’s do this!
More...
The Science Behind Warming Up
According to the Journal for Sports Medicine, warm ups have a positive effect on injury reduction.
As you know by now most calisthenics injuries are upper body related:
How does warm up reduce the number of injuries?
A proper warming up improves your physical performance by increasing your body temperature and flexibility.
And don't forget post workout soreness...
...warming up will probably reduce the muscle soreness in your body the next day.
But your physical performance is just one side of the story.
Warming also improves your mental performance by increasing your timing, motor control and coordination of muscles.
On top of that, you can also time your training to make use of your circadian rhythm.
According to Wikipedia:
Why is this important?
For example, training later on the day around 17:00 will allow you to have access to more muscle strength:
In short, beginning your training warmed up is IMPORTANT to increase your athletic performance...
...and avoid injuries.
Key Takeaway
Your body needs heat and a higher core temperature to prevent injuries and soreness while maximising your strength.
And warming up will activate your body.
Chapter 2:
The Keys To Warming Up For Calisthenics Workout
In this chapter I'll cover the keys of warming up.
You'll discover three simple compound movements to use in your warm ups and what parts of your body you should focus on (and what questions you can ask yourself for injury prevention).
Sounds like a good plan, right?
Compound Movements
When you warm up, warm up your ENTIRE body.
Instead of just a part of it.
How?
By using compound exercises for beginners:
Any of these can be done by anyone for 3-5 min.
When this becomes easy you can:
- change the speed and duration.
- complexity by adding more variation.
- or continue with the 7 effective routines for beginners.
Which means you can and should improve your warm up as you become stronger.
And better.
Improve Weak Spots
Injuries are ALWAYS around the corner.
Especially if you are just getting started.
For example, a speedy Reddit search:
Take this other example of an extremely motivated beginner:
So once again, your warm up is a useful moment to give your weak spots (like your shoulders and wrists) more attention.
That’s why you want to ask yourself:
- Where am I injury prone?
- What are my weaker places?
- Which places on my body do I need to pay special attention to?
Keep in mind:
Your injuries are not just going to disappear.
So, the worst thing you can do is ignore your injuries.
Instead, wrap your joints in exercise.
You will discover something useful....
..what makes you weak now, is EXACTLY what will make you STRONGER.
Chapter 3:
7 Effective Warm Up Routines For Calisthenics Beginners
Now it's time to get into the nitty gritty warm up routines.
Specifically, what exercises you can do and for how many reps and how long.
In this chapter, I'm going to show you PROVEN warm up routines to prevent injuries.
Let's get fired up!
The Beginner Routines
A good warm up or cardio workout contains some low impact exercises.
So we made 7 diagrams.
These are really helpful for anyone looking to start their calisthenics training injury free.
Besides these compound movements, you should also pay attention to old injuries and weakspots.
Here are the effective and safe routines for beginners:
Rope Jumping Tips
Your jumping rope might be the SIMPLEST warm up tool on the planet.
Why?
Because you can take it anywhere.
Unfortunately, that's exactly why most people don't give it the credit it should have.
Here is what it will improve:
- coordination
- explosive strength
- stamina
- timing
There are endless variations.
You can change the speed, jump on one leg or even change the direction in which you are swining.
Want some quick motivation to make sure you warm up done well?
Then don't miss the video below:
Stronger Wrists
As mentioned before your wrists are most likely to get injured first.
Before every workout I recommend you to pay extra attention by doing additional stretches.
Here are the three most important ones:
Do 25 to 50 reps of each.
Why so many reps?
Because your wrists need time and high reps are good for blood flow and recovery.
You can protect your wrists.
Don't make the same mistakes most beginners make.
Warm up!
Don't Skip Your Warm Up
You know by now how ESSENTIAL a good warming up is.
It takes a fraction of your time and can save you a lifetime of issues.
And you don't want to waste time on injuries.
Especially not with the calisthenics goals you have right now.
Does it mean you will never get injured?
There will be situations where you might get injured, but you will be prepared.
You will be ready and fired up.
Because calisthenics training is about preparing your body for whatever it may face.
And coming out...
...victorious.
*Fist Bump*
Now I’d like to hear from you:
Did you like this post? What warm up routine will you try?
Or maybe you have a question about rope jumping.
Either way, leave a quick comment below right now.
Thanks a lot Bro! Warming up is always the boring part… but with these tips it’s not anymore! Cheers!
Hey Thiago,
Exactly! Makes warming up way more fun!
Beast Mode ON!
Bro…it helps me a lot with this warm up session. And now I feel more comfortable with push ups and pull ups. But I feel so tired after 5 routines of your guide like push ups, pull ups, squats, leg raise..etc, and I got a good results with the beast mode. But I need a suggestion to get raid of the tiredness..plz
Hey Rony,
Happy to hear that it has been helping you.
Definitely important to pay special attention to the wrists.
Either rest more time between exercises and sets or work on your cardio by resting less ;).
Keep up the good work!
Beast mode ON!
Good to know, i am going to try this out. Yesterday i was like 1+ ours in the gym and when i came out i tried some pull ups and my triceps hurted a lot, that wasn’t that smart…
Hey Benjamin,
Definitely build it up slowly.
Your body needs time to adapt to these new forces you are placing on it.
Beast mode ON!
Nicely said!!!! Warm up is now officially cool!* thanks a mil bro!!
Hey Jason,
Thanks for the comment!
Haha, true, it doesn’t need to be boring. Only if you make it so ;).
Beast mode ON!
Thanks for the tips- might explain why after a day of not doing simple pull ups and chin ups, I seem to have aches.
I have only been into calisthenics since November, but making
slow progress on pull ups and chinups.
Thanks again
Hey Mike,
I used to have the exact same problem. The inflammation flares up on resting days, just like muscle ache does. You were probably on your way towards developing tendonitis. And that’s exactly what you don’t want to have :D.
If you are slowly progressing on pull ups, you might want to try doing some alternative movements where you use the same muscles, but in a slight variation.
Check this routine:
http://www.barbrothersgroningen.com/4-pull-up-progression-exercises-bar-brother-beginner-workout/
Beast Mode ON
Hey ! I been doing calisthenics for a few months now and I recently got a wrist injury where it’s at a deep part of the side of my wrist, any idea how to cure it by using any movements or workouts?
Hey Ivan,
Good question.
Check out my blog on wrist injury, I actually broke my wrist and through the right training it got stronger than it has ever been.
Find the blog on the website, the secret is in isometric training and out of alignment movements.
Beast Mode ON!
Are there modified versions you can share for a 52 yo obese woman with weak arms and wrists and bad knees? I think your system is what I need; simple, straightforward, and can be done anywhere (so no excuses for me, right), but I’m below the beginner level. In the meantime I will attempt these movements carefully until I hear from you. Thanks
Hey Ms Davis,
Welcome to the movement! Great to have you here!
What you need to focus on first, especially when you have to make up a lot of distance, is to get your nutrition in check first.
Better nutrition => More energy + better muscle recovery + stronger joints => more overall strength. Isometrics, such as the wrist exercises are extremely suitable if you have limited movement capabilities. You will build strength while at the same time staying within strict movement boundaries. So here is what you can do:
1) Focus on your diet! What does your current diet consist of? Make sure you read the blogs I have written on dieting!
2) Start off with the basics, the 7 exercises as described in the body weight started guide. Those will definitely be challenging enough.
If you have any other specific questions! ASK!
Beast Mode ON!
Thank you for your advice. I’ve been working on my nutrition this week. I also found that I can do modified push ups at my kitchen counter (convenient and no excuses, right?) So I am on my way. Thanks again.
Hi Bro! I like your warm-up, but I love your style of writing. You can really realise the reasons of why sth is important and keep your motivation high after reading your articles! Thank you for that!
Your site is full of positive, well-prepared information in a nice designed form 🙂
Wish you best!
Hey Kamil,
I really appreciate your comment! I’m always trying to take a positive angle, because there is always so much pushing people down.
I’m happy that my articles have been motivational to you and I will try my best to keep putting that information out there.
If you have any other questions…ASK!
Beast mode ON!
anthing on mobility and flexibility. Im just getting into this in my living room and know that my legs arent very flexible. I have been stretching more but want to know if there is a faster process?
Hey Sal,
I am in the process of writing a really good blog post on a leg routine that addresses both flexibility, coordination and strength for and overall better mobility.
Be on the lookout and in the meantime youtube dynamic stretching.
I’m a firm believer of stretching in a more dynamic way, because movement is dynamic in itself and that’s what you want to stick as much to as possible when you are stretching.
Then again this differs per person, but I will cover some of this in the next post.
Beast mode ON!
So far it’s been a good interesting read. I just started both the beginner exercises and got on the 16 hours no eating 8 hours of good nutrition diet.
I had a few questions if you have the time.
Right now I warm up by doing interval training. 30 second walking 90 seconds sprinting for 16 minutes. I then take 3 minutes to stretch before doing the beginner exercises.. dips, pushups,pull ups, lunges/squats, and leg lifts. Aside from dynamic stretches … I plan to increase my reps by 2-5 every week.
So my question s are… at what point should I look into the 12 week course?
Is my plan solid or is there some where I can address a weakness?
I plan to after the first week add variety to the 5 sections of workouts not stick with the same movements as there are a variety of movements in each type.
Thank you for your feed back.. I really am excited to get this ball rolling… I’m on week 1..:) to prep for the 12 week workout.
Hey David,
Good stuff!
There is not guideline for that, you can start the 12-week system whenever you want. It just depends on what you are in need of right now.
With regard to you plan, I’d say it looks pretty solid. I have no idea what your current level of strength is and what you goals are so I’m stating that conclusion with a whole load of assumptions. Then again, I notice that you are experimenting and individualizing your approach, what is the foundation of good nutrition and training in my eyes. So great stuff!
Keep it up!
Beast mode ON!
Hey..I don’t really understand how to do the third and fourth warm up exercises. Should I be in a push up position to do it cause according to the video you were doing it as if you were doing pushups..can u explain that to me? Btw, I really like the way you explained this topic..keep up the good work 🙂
Hey Christopher,
Well the push ups are just an indication to show you what’s possible.
Doing it in a push up position will be more beneficial to your wrist strength however. But, experiment with this and don’t push it too far.
It took me some time to build up this type of wrist strength.
Beast mode ON!
Hey I just wanted to know if all the transformation you see are because of the system or something else
Hey Yul,
Those transformations are a result of the methods which are applied in the system.
The system will provide you with a dense training program to really get the basics down. Instead of fooling around and trying to find out everything for yourself, which will usually take quite a bit of time.
Time which you could have used more effectively.
Hope this answers your question.
Beast mode ON!