9 Best Warmup Exercises for Building Mass

Foam Roll

If you haven’t foam rolled by now, it’s time to start. A 2013 Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise study found that foam rolling mitigates the effects of delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS). Another study in the 2014 Journal of Sport and Rehabilitation found that the combination of foam rolling and static stretching helps to improve passive hip range of motion more than stretching alone.

Spend a few minutes rolling out your calves, quads, groin, iliotibial (IT) band, glutes, upper back, and lats before every workout.

Hip Flexor Stretch

From all the sitting that we do, most of us have tight hip flexors. To alleviate tight hip flexors, combine breathing exercises with direct stretches; this will reposition your pelvis and allow your glutes to do more work — keeping your hamstrings happy. 

How To Do It:

• The stretch: get on one knee and place your rear foot on top of a bench behind you.
• Then squeeze the glute of your rear leg, pushing your hips forward — you should feel a deep stretch throughout the front of your hips and quads.
• Switch sides.

Child’s Pose Breathing

Breathing drills will enable you to breath from your diaphram instead of your chest, which is a far more efficient way to breathe. You’ll chronically release tight muscles in your neck, upper traps, and chest. You’ll also relax areas in your lower back. This alone can improve range-of-motion at your shoulder and hip joints without a single stretch.

How To Do It:

• Get into a child’s pose, and round the entire length of your spine.
• When you inhale, breathe through your nose, expand your diaphragm, and focus on pushing your belly into your thighs.
• Exhale every last ounce of air from your lungs, hold for one second, and then inhale.

Hip Bridge

Weak, under-activated glutes force your hamstrings and lower back to do more work to complete a hip extension, which can lead to pain and injuries over time. Instead, fire your glutes before your heavy lifts, this will allow them to provide more force so that you can safely lift more weight. 

How To Do It:

• Lie on your back and bend your knees about 90-degrees.
• Squeeze your glutes, drive through your heels, and lift your hips.
• Avoid using your hamstrings or lower back.

Box Jumps

This exercise activates your fast-twitch muscle fibers and fires up your nervous system because you have to rapidly produce and absorb force. Doing a few reps of these before your main lifts will allow your body to be more primed to put force through the bar to move weight. 

How To Do It:

• While facing a tall box, keep your knees soft, sit backward, and explode onto the box.
• As quietly as you can, land on your mid-foot and in the same position you jumped from.
• Step down from the box with one foot at a time. Don’t jump down.

Wall Slides

Stand with your head, shoulders, and glutes against a wall. Next, press your forearms against the wall — there should be no space between your skin and the wall. Squeeze your glutes, and press your lower back against the wall while sliding your forearms up and down the wall. 

How To Do It:

• Do this warmup drill to take your joints through a full range of motion so that you can build solid movement patterns in your hamstrings.
• Slowly bend forward and pull one leg behind. Once your torso is perpendicular to the ground, drive back up and squeeze with your glutes.
• Don’t twist your hips to the side – keep them square and faced forward. Keep your lower back flat.
• Take a step back and alternate your legs

Spiderman Lunge With Overhead Reach

Sometimes called “The World’s Greatest Stretch,” this move improves your hip mobility, thoracic spine mobility, and quickly warms up your entire body.

How To Do It:

• With your left leg, lunge forward and left at about 30-degrees.
• Place both hands on the ground while keeping your elbows locked, and press your trailing knee to the ground.
• Squeeze the glute of the rear leg, and extend your right arm to the sky while watching your hand.
• Throughout this exercise, maintain a neutral arch in your lower back. Stand up and switch sides.

Bear Crawl

The bear crawl develops tremendous core stability, activates your deep core muscles, and relinks your cross-body connections.

How To Do It:

• Get on all fours with your hands under your shoulders and your knees under your hips; and keep your knees an inch above the ground.
• Crawl forward by taking a small step with your right arm and left leg at the same time and alternate.
• Keep your hips low and your head up.

Turkish Get Up (TGU)

The Turkish Get Up (TGU) is a total-body exercise that develops mobility and stability in all the right places. It also activates your nervous system and creates better movement patterns.

How To Do It:

• Lie on the ground with your right knee bent, right foot flat on the floor, right arm holding a weight above you, and left arm and left leg at your side.
• Drive through your right foot and roll onto your left elbow. Then, straighten your left arm.
• Squeeze your right glute and drive your hips straight up.
• Pull your left leg underneath and behind your body, resting on the knee and ball of the foot.
• Move your torso straight up, then lunge to a stand. Reverse the sequence to descend.
• Do all your reps on one side and repeat on the other side. Keep your chest up and watch the weight