Let’s start with two camps when it comes to warm ups. I think you’ll recognise yourself in at least one of them.
Camp one: the person who skips it entirely. Presses play, picks up the weights, gets straight into it. Maybe things feel a bit stiff for the first few reps but they push through.
Camp two: the person who spends 20 minutes stretching before they’ve done a single squat. I get this question a lot inside GLOW10 because so many sessions are 10 minutes. “If I have to warm up, is it going to be a 25-minute session?” That’s a completely fair question.
The honest answer is: it depends. But today I want to give you a framework so that by the end of this you know exactly what your warm up should look like, how long it actually needs to take, and what to do depending on where you’re starting from and what you’re about to do.
What a Warm Up Is Actually For
A warm up has one job: to bridge the gap between where your body is right now and what you’re about to ask it to do.
That bridge has three components.
Your body – joints and muscles. We want synovial fluid moving through the joint, lubricating the surfaces so things can glide the way they’re supposed to. We want increased blood flow and a slight rise in muscle temperature, which improves both force production and the elasticity of the tissue. A warm muscle simply performs better and is less vulnerable to strain than a cold one.
Your nervous system. Your central nervous system is the control centre for every movement you make. When it has been primed – when it’s already received some movement input – it responds faster, recruits muscle fibres more efficiently, and coordinates your movement patterns better. This is why your first rep of an exercise often feels a bit clunky, and by the third rep you’ve found your groove. A warm up accelerates that process.
Your mind. This one is especially relevant for women training at home. There’s no commute to a gym, no environment change, no class that starts without you. You might be going from your desk straight to your living room floor, or from the school run straight to pressing play. The warm up can serve as a deliberate transition – a signal to your brain that this time is yours now, that you’re switching modes. In my experience, this mental shift is often the hardest part of training at home. A short intentional warm up helps bridge that gap. If the idea of the full workout feels like too much, just focus on the warm up. A few stretches, a couple of mobility moves. Once you’re there, the session usually takes care of itself.
What the Research Says
The research on this is pretty consistent. Movement-specific preparation – warming up using the patterns you’re about to train – improves performance output and reduces injury risk compared to doing nothing, or compared to passive static stretching alone.
That last part is worth flagging. Static stretching – holding a stretch for 30 to 60 seconds – before strength training can actually temporarily reduce the force your muscle can produce. It’s not dangerous, but it’s not the best preparation for lifting. Save the long holds for after your session or a standalone mobility practice. Before you lift, we want dynamic, active movement.
Your Starting Point Matters
What your warm up looks like depends on where your body is starting from.
Fresh out of bed or just peeled yourself off a desk chair? Your hips have been flexed, your lower back rounded, your shoulders rolled forward. Your body needs a little convincing before you ask it to press overhead or hinge into a deadlift. Give it a moment to get there.
Been on your feet all morning or just off a walk? You’re already moving. A few movement-specific reps is probably all you need.
There’s no universal answer. But once you start paying attention to how your body feels when you press play, you’ll get a really good read on what it needs.
The Three Things That Shape Your Warm Up
Here’s the framework. Your warm up should be shaped by three things.
- Where you’re starting from. Desk to deadlift needs more than a walk to deadlift.
- Where you’re going. The most effective warm up for strength training is a lighter version of the exercise you’re about to perform. About to do a goblet squat with 12kg? Start with 5kg or bodyweight. Heading into an overhead press? Do a few reps with a lighter weight first. This primes the exact muscles and movement patterns you’re about to load. It doesn’t need to be elaborate. It just needs to be specific.
- What your body is bringing to the session today. This is the one I really want you to hear.
Warming Up for Your Body – Not Just the Movement
If you have a stiff lower back – which is so common, especially after sitting or first thing in the morning – and you’re about to do any kind of squat, hinge, or lower body work, take two minutes first to move that area. A few Cobra stretches lying on your stomach to open up the lumbar spine. Some deep bodyweight squats, slowly, to mobilise the hips and get the posterior chain waking up. Cat Cow if you want something gentler. You’re not trying to fix anything. You’re just giving that area a signal that it’s about to be asked to work, and letting it respond before you load it.
If you have tight upper back or carry tension in your neck and shoulders – maybe you’ve had a niggle there, maybe you just know that’s where you hold stress – and you’re about to do any kind of pressing or pulling movement, prep that area first. Thread the Needle is great, a rotational stretch on all fours that opens the thoracic spine beautifully. A few shoulder circles, some chin tucks. Two minutes. You’re not doing a whole physio rehab session. You’re just preparing the specific joints and muscles that are about to work.
The question to ask yourself before every session: what is my body bringing today, and what does it need before I load it?
What About Time?
If you’re doing a 10-minute session, a warm up does not mean a 25-minute session.
For most sessions, two to three minutes is genuinely enough. Sometimes it’s just the first set of each exercise done at a lighter weight. The goal is readiness, not ritual. Keep it targeted, keep it short, and then get to the work.
One More Thing Worth Knowing
The more frequently you train, the less warm up you actually need over time.
When you’re training consistently – showing up most days, moving through the same patterns regularly – your body starts to arrive at sessions already more prepared. Your nervous system is already familiar with the movement demands. Your joints are better lubricated because you’ve been using them regularly. Your warm up requirement actually decreases as your baseline fitness and movement quality improves.
This is one of the reasons I designed GLOW10 around daily 10-minute sessions. Frequency doesn’t just build strength faster – it keeps your body in a state of readiness. Your warm up becomes shorter because your body is already there.
To Bring It All Together
You don’t need a 20-minute warm up. But you do need something.
Figure out where your body is starting from. Prep for the specific movements you’re about to do. Give a little extra attention to anything that feels stiff or restricted before you load it.
Two to three minutes. Targeted. Intentional. That is often enough.
If you want a program that’s been designed with all of this in mind – the progressive loading, the movement prep, the physio lens on how to train safely and sustainably at home – GLOW10 Tribe is the place. Join us here: https://glowphysio.com.au/glow10-tribe-join
And if you’re not sure where to start, grab my free 7-Day Strength Plan. It’s the perfect low-barrier first step: https://glowphysio.com.au/7dsp1/