10-Minute Warm-Up for At-Home Workouts

I have a powerful 10-Minute Warm-Up for At-Home Workouts for you today!

How should you warm up if you’re working out at home?

As an at-home personal trainer, I face this question every day! And it’s also something I get asked a lot by my online clients and on my social media.
We don’t want to risk any injuries by skipping the warm-up but it’s also hard to know what you can do when you don’t have any equipment at hand.
So I decided to put together a video taking you through a 10-minute home warmup routine that you can do at home with no equipment whatsoever.
(Though you might want to get a mat for comfort. Tip: On this website, they sell really cheap mats that you can use it for all your home workouts. Seriously, If you don’t have a mat, just get one.)

10-Minute Warm-Up for At-Home Workouts

The warm-up has two parts:

Part 1:

A three-minute cardio burst. We’re going to do four exercises for 15 seconds each, and repeat that for 3 sets.

Part 2:

7 warm-up exercises to move the body through all ranges of motion, increase blood flow and make sure every single muscle is warmed up for the more intense home workout you’re going to do after.

Warm-Up Part 1: Cardio Burst

Tip: You can the cardio burst with me in the video I’ll put at the bottom of this blog!

Exercise 1: Running in place
Make sure you use your arms while you do this one.

Exercise 2: High knees
Here you want to bring those knees as high up as you can without leaning back.

Exercise 3: Jumping jacks
Make sure you reach all the way up over your head. Keep your elbows straight.

Exercise 4: Hip twists
Like the ones you did to warm up in PE (or was that just me?)

Do each of these four exercises for 15 seconds each for three rounds. No breaks! That’s your three minutes warm-up cardio burst!

After the cardio burst, you should feel nice and warm, your heart rate should be elevated and maybe you’ve started sweating a little bit (OK, maybe a lot!)

Warm-Up Part 2: Dynamic Stretches

Now we’re going to go into the dynamic stretches for the general warm-up of the whole body.

Exercise 1: Arm swings
Do 10 forwards and 10 backward. Make sure to stretch your elbows and bring your upper arms as close to your ears as possible when you swing your arms up.

Exercise 2: Shoulder slaps
Do 10 of those. Make sure every time you slap you switch arms, so you have the other arm on top for the next slap.

Exercise 3: Squats
Do 10 bodyweight squats. Make sure your feet are about hip-width apart. Maybe your toes are pointing out a little bit, maybe it’s comfortable for you if they’re pointing straight forward. Experiment with your stance until you find what works for you. Inhale on the way down. Exhale on the way up. Make sure you keep your core nice and tight, your shoulders back and your lower back straight.

Exercise 4: Squat and hamstring stretch
From the squat position, you want to bring your feet a little bit closer together, point your toes forward, and now fold forward and tuck your fingertips under your toes, look into your knees. From here use your arms to pull your hips down in your chest, up into a deep squat position. Make sure your elbows on the inside of your knees. Bring up your chest, pull your shoulders back. From here exhale, stretch your knees and again, look into your knees. Fold forward. We’re going to complete 10 reps of this exercise.

Exercise 5: Lunge and a kick
Do 10 for each leg. When you lunge down, make sure you go full range of motion so the knee on your posterior leg is coming as close to the floor as possible without touching. When you kick forward, stretch the knee so you feel a stretch in your hamstrings. If you’re not able to touch your toes, don’t worry about it. Find another spot on your leg that you can come up and touch every time.

Exercise 6: Bird dog
Again, we’re going to do 10 reps here. You’re going to alternate sides, so it’s five for each side. As you do this try and stretch your elbow forward and stretch your knee behind you, without twisting your hips. Keep your core nice and tight, back straight, and remember to breathe.

Exercise 7: Fire hydrant circles on all fours
You’re going to do five reps forwards and then five reps backward on each side. Imagine you’re drawing a big circle with the tip of your kneecap and focus on getting out into all “the corners” of the circle.

After completing these dynamic stretches, you should feel nice and warm in your whole body and ready to do a more strenuous workout. If you still feel like you have any part of your body that could use a little bit more movement before you start, don’t hesitate to either repeat this series of dynamic stretches or do some more exercises to make sure you’re nice and warm before you engage in more intense workouts.

Video: 10-Minute Warm-Up for At-Home Workouts

Want me to be there and do the warm-up with you at home? Just play the “10-Minute Warm-Up for At-Home Workouts” video on your phone or smart-tv and do the warm-up with me in real-time! I’ll give you cues to the technique as we go along and tell you when to switch exercises!