The Complete Guide For The Best Crossfit Warm Up
I have always wondered why there is so much resistance to warm-ups, especially in the CrossFit space. A great warm-up prepares your entire body and nervous system for the intense physical activity of a traditional CrossFit workout.
When done before a training session, it has been scientifically proven to improve performance compared to a workout that you start cold.
Over the last 12 years, as a CrossFit coach and a Performance Physical Therapist, I have seen what the best CrossFit Warm Up looks like, the positive effects of a well-designed one, and the adverse effects of not doing them over time.
These include achy joints, lackluster competition scores, and decreases in range motion. All of these can be mitigated by spending five to fifteen minutes prepping your body to perform via a great warm-up.
This article will review the importance of an effective warm-up from a physiological perspective, how to tailor your warm-up routine to your strength training or rmetcon, and provide examples of what I believe to be a great framework for designing the best CrossFit warm-up possible.
Why Do A Warm-Up For CrossFit?
There are three main reasons behind warm-up routines for CrossFit training.
Performance Enhancement
A proper warm-up can boost your performance levels compared to workouts where you are not warm by increasing neural drive to the muscle group or muscle groups you will be training that day.
- Improved Muscle Efficiency and Power Output: Warm-ups where there is increased blood flow increase adenosine triphosphate turnover, which enhances muscle function and, ultimately, performance via improved oxygen uptake and cross-bridge cycling rate. (1)
- Increased Nerve Conduction Velocity: Warming up quite literally increases the speed at which nerve signals from your brain reach the target muscle tissue, which enhances reaction time and exercise performance.
- Enhanced Oxygen Consumption and Increased Lactate Threshold: By elevating your core body temperature with a warm-up, you can effectively raise your baseline VO2 max (oxygen consumption) and delay your lactate threshold, which is the point at which you begin to accumulate lactate in the muscle faster than you can clear it. (2)
- Gradual Increase in Heart Rate: Gradually increasing your heart rate with a warm-up can prevent a phenomenon called cardiac delay. This is where there is a delayed response by your heart in response to intense exercise, where it is not pumping adequate blood to the working muscles relative to the rate of work being done.
This also increases demand on the heart and cardiovascular system as it responds quickly to pump blood. (2)
Injury Prevention
Spending time before your workout to warm up helps reduce your chance of injury in training. (1)
- Decreased Muscle Stiffness: As blood flow and muscle temperature increase, the stiffness and flexibility of your muscle tissue decrease. This enables the muscles to elongate better so that you can move more freely through squats, deadlifts, pull-ups, etc. With less chance of sustaining a strain or muscle pull. (2)
- Improved Range of Motion and Flexibility: Incorporating mobility drills and dynamic stretching in a warm-up will help you achieve optimal positions during your lifts to minimize unnecessary forces on your joints (as well as improve your performance levels).
- Increased Synovial Fluid Production: Warm-ups boost the production of synovial fluid in your joints, which lubricates them and helps prevent injuries by ensuring smooth and pain-free movements.
Mental Preparation
A thorough warm-up can also help you to mentally focus on the hard work you are about to do in training and raise your level of alertness to what is required for the session.
- Focus and Concentration: In all sports, mental imagery of the different movements and skills you’ll perform in training can enhance your performance. Incorporating these into a warm-up can give you a 1% improvement each session that will compound over time.
- Optimal Arousal: There is a necessary amount of arousal for optimal performance for any workout. Warming up correctly for the session you are about to do can make or break how well you perform.
For example, you would need a more stimulating warm-up if you were gearing up for multiple sets of heavy front squats.
Conversely, you would be better served with a lower stimulating aerobic warm-up if you had a longer cyclical metcon where going out too fast could hurt your score.
Components of an Effective Warm-Up
It’s common to see various “game” warm-ups in CrossFit gyms, but if you are a more focused CrossFit athlete, you will want to design your warm-up based on what the actual workout entails.
Below are the essential features of an evidence-based warm-up for a CrossFit athlete.
General Preparation
Light Aerobic Activity
I like to include light aerobic activities such as running or rowing at the start of any warm-up. This is a low-intensity way to move the muscles, increase your heart rate, and start pumping blood.
The goal for this warm-up section is easy motion versus fast-paced running, so aim for a pace that may raise your respiration slightly but still allow you to hold a conversation.
Pre-Habilitation Drills
After your body temperature has increased slightly, it is a perfect time to reclaim any range of motion lost from prior sessions or prolonged postures throughout the day.
Mobility Work
Mobility exercises help you optimize the range of motion of the joints you will work on in your training session. Based on your movement assessment, you can also add specific drills for joints or muscles that need special attention.
I prefer to include some mobility work in the warm-ups I design since much of the lifting done in CrossFit depends on you achieving mechanically efficient positions.
For example, suppose you have Clean and Jerks in your workout but lack overhead shoulder mobility. In that case, the load you can handle will diminish.
So, spend a few minutes while you are warm to ensure your joints can move as needed. But avoid static stretching for too long, as this can decrease your force output.
Activation Exercises
Once you are warm and moving well, you can use various low-intensity exercises to help engage the individual muscles you will be working.
Single joint and targeted exercises will increase recruitment and neural recruitment to the muscles to improve force during more complex movements. (3)
For an upper body day, this might include scapular push-ups to activate the muscles around your shoulder blades, banded pull-aparts for the rear deltoids and upper back, and plank shoulder taps to engage your core and stabilize your shoulders.
If you have certain muscle groups that are weak compared to the surrounding muscles or to the other side, you can also use these activation exercises to work on imbalances.
Specific Preparation
Specific prep is the warm-up phase, where you perform the movement(s) you are about to train. You’ll move from drilling the movement to increasing intensity until you are ready to begin your working sets.
Practicing Movements For The Workout of the Day
Now that your core temperature is elevated, your muscles and joints are moving well, and you have increased activation and neural recruitment of the involved muscles, it’s time to put it together to perform your lifts or metcon.
For resistance training, this will look like getting a barbell or dumbbell in your hands and performing several repetitions of the movement at a light weight to practice the motion and reinforce the movement pattern.
For example, if you’re training Strict Press and Overhead Squats, start with a few sets of each movement using light weights or a PVC pipe. This is also a great way to check how you are moving to determine if any joints need more attention before you add load.
If you are prepping for a metcon, these concepts still apply, but you may practice several movements together, walk through your transitions, review techniques on a machine, etc.
Building Up In Load
Lastly, you’ll build in load or intensity to what you will do for training that day. For resistance training, start with small jumps to build up to your working weight for the day. The degree of these jumps is based on your one-rep maximum, so you’ll work backward evenly to your first warm-up set.
This gradual buildup helps optimize your nervous system for lifting heavy objects and ensures your muscles are fully prepared for the workout.
For your metcon, there is no one repetition maximum to go off of, so you can perform reduced repetitions of each movement for several rounds as you increase your pace to your training pace.
Once you have built up successfully, you are primed and ready to perform optimally in whatever training piece you have for that day.
What Is The Best Crossfit Warm-Up?
Use these warm-ups as a guide for your resistance training or your metabolic conditioning.
Upper Body Warm-Up
3 minutes on the rower at an easy pace
+
A1) Banded Shoulder distraction – :30 / arm; rest:30 and move to A2
A2) Resistance Band Facepull – 10 repetitions; rest :30 and move to A3
A3) Open Book Rotations – 8 repetitions/side; rest:30 and move to A4
A4) Elbow On Knee External Rotation – 10 repetitions/side; rest :30 and move to A1
+
Strict Press
Build in load; rest as needed between sets
50% x 10, 60% x 8, 70% x 5, 80% 3 x 5
Lower Body Warm-Up
3 minutes on Assault Bike @ easy pace
+
A1) Hip 90/90 Rotations – 10 switches; rest:30 and move to A2
A2) PVC Pipe Good Mornings – 10 repetitions; rest :30 and move to A3
A3) Lunge To Instep w/ Rotation – 8 repetitions/side; rest :30 and move to A4
A4) Air Squats – 10 repetitions; rest :30 and move to A1
+
Overhead Squats
Build in load; rest as needed between sets
50% x 10, 60% x 8, 70% x 5, 80% 3 x 5
Metcon Warm-Up
5 Sets; rest 1:00 between rounds; increase pace each set
5 Wallballs
5 Ring Dips
5 Pull Ups
Final Thoughts On CrossFit Warm-Ups
As you can see, a proper warm-up can drastically enhance performance, prevent injuries, and prepare you mentally for a CrossFit workout. Although this may seem like a whole workout in itself, the process should take no more than fifteen minutes to complete.
You can use techniques such as supersets, where you pair exercises and drills back to back to minimize wasted time and increase core temperature even further. Any longer than fifteen minutes, and you’re likely eating into your training time, so keep it short and sweet.
By incorporating a few minutes of light aerobic activity, mobility work, activation exercises, and specific movement practice, you can ensure your body is ready to train.
I hope this helps you prioritize and effectively plan warm-ups to maximize your workout results and stay injury-free.
If you need help with your training and reaching your goals, I would be happy to chat with you.
I have helped hundreds of CrossFit athletes optimize their training to move well and elevate their performance.
If you are ready to be next, I invite you to book a free thirty-minute consultation so that I can learn more about you, your goals, and how I can help you achieve them.
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I look forward to chatting with you!
References:
1. Park, H. K., Jung, M. K., Park, E., Lee, C. Y., Jee, Y. S., Eun, D., Cha, J. Y., & Yoo, J. (2018). The effect of warm-ups with stretching on the isokinetic moments of collegiate men. Journal of exercise rehabilitation, 14(1), 78–82. https://doi.org/10.12965/jer.1835210.605
2. Bishop D. (2003). Warm up I: potential mechanisms and the effects of passive warm up on exercise performance. Sports medicine (Auckland, N.Z.), 33(6), 439–454. https://doi.org/10.2165/00007256-200333060-00005
3. Sale D. G. (1988). Neural adaptation to resistance training. Medicine and science in sports and exercise, 20(5 Suppl), S135–S145. https://doi.org/10.1249/00005768-198810001-00009
