Ultimate Warm Up Guide: A Mobility, Breathing and Power Warm Up Before Your Workout
Oct 17, 2026
Here is my favorite go-to warm up before a workout. It starts with a breathing drill to improve mobility and pressure management, then moves into drills for the hips, feet and glutes, and finishes with exercises to raise the heart rate and wake up the nervous system. I want it to be something that really revs the body up, not just something to check off.
1. Side plank with wall breathing
Lie on your side with your elbows down and your knees up at about 90 degrees, or a little less. Put your top leg on the wall. Don't go too far from the wall, or when you put your leg up you'll lose the position of the pelvis. Lift up into a side plank without letting the knee sink, then drag the heel back to kick the hamstring on and pull that side into position. To breathe, inhale through the nose, expanding laterally in the rib cage, then exhale and drag the heel back. Repeat for five to eight breaths. The abdominals help you feel the pressure management.
2. Down dog crawl
Next, something in all fours or a prone position, such as crawling, to get expansion of the back of the pelvis and let the upper body relax. With toes on the wall for feedback, take an inhale, then on the exhale elevate your knees just off the ground into a modified down dog. Inhale, exhale to come forward, and repeat for about five reps. To make it more dynamic, crawl forward with your hands, lift the hips back into the down dog position, crawl forward again, then bring the knees down and crawl back. Repeat for about five reps forward and back.
3. Hip rotation hinge with a foot constraint
I love combining foot constraint drills so the foot, Achilles and calf are ready to go, along with internal and external rotation at the hip, and getting the glutes to activate and do their job quickly. Stand and hinge forward, but not too far down, with the weight over the middle of the foot, not pushed toward the wall. From here, drop the left knee down to create space in the hip, reach with the right arm and rotate away. You're rotating, not hiking the hip or letting yourself fall to the outside. Do several reps, then add the foot: staying heavy through the midfoot, lift the heel just off the ground as you reach with the same side arm, working the glutes on that side, then come down and reach with the opposite arm.
You can pair it with the breath, too. Inhale and relax the pelvic floor as the heel comes down, then exhale as you lift, creating a co-contraction in the lower limb. The glutes will be ready to go.
4. Chops and lateral lunge landings
Finally, I want to get the heart rate up and the nervous system stimulated and ready. Start building into it with a chopping motion across the body and a lateral lunge, letting the knee come over the toes to prep the knees for the workout. Then come up on your toes with arms overhead, and inhale, exhale, catch and land. Repeat about 10 reps on each side.
5. Pogos for springy ankles
Next, we want to be springy. I love using a ball between the thighs, with my hands on the wall to help out. As I squeeze the ball, I pounce through the ground without too much sinking through the knees, so most of the work is through my ankles and feet. If you have any trouble with incontinence from jumping, the ball squeeze is a helpful place to begin. When you feel confident, take away the ball and do the same wall pogos, then eventually build up to pogos just on the ground. Do about 20 to 30 reps.
For a harder variation, combine that stiffness with some yield: a double pogo split squat, where you let yourself pogo in a split stance and drop into the split squat.
How much to do
Everyone is a little different in how much of a warm up they need. I'd do probably two sets of what we just did, though some people prefer to lean into the warm up and take their time so they feel really ready.
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