A funny thing happened the other day.

I was teaching the osteoarticular (very specific joint) warmup, as I almost always do before anything, even Pilates….because of how much better all my clients feel after.

I mean, they really do, and what makes me especially proud is that many of them do it on their own.

I actually think this is the most powerful part of the whole workout.

To learn to become aware of all these tiny places moving and to actually feel and control them takes a lot of practice and awareness, and patience.

I do my best to try and explain this to my clients but I sometimes can’t help but wonder if they are maybe secretly bored by these small movements. After all- they can be tedious and maybe even boring to folks who want to really move and sweat right away.

So to keep my client interested in this warm up, I started talking about the other thing I love and think a lot about: food.

(I use food to explain a lot of movements actually!)

As we were articulating the lower spine with translations, I started to think of my friend who is an amazing cook, and how she can taste something and deconstruct the whole recipe with one taste. She doesn’t taste the dish as one taste. To her, it has parts. She can pick apart what spices make up the distinct flavor. That level of awareness is what makes her cooking amazing and special.

As I began to think about it more, I realized that:

This level of awareness that my friend has in her taste buds is similar to the goal of the osteo-articular warmup.

It’s like a gift we give ourselves when we allow the brain to connect with the small movements that the body has the potential to create.

Warming up is preparing the body by deconstructing movements into their parts. It’s moving those places that want to remain stuck but are supposed to move. Just doing this alone is a great thing to do for your body.  It’s a lot like cleaning out the corners of your house that collect dust.

We gain control over those places.  These tiny, small movements make up the bigger movements.

We learn to feel them with more clarity which improves the quality of how we move, because the places where we don’t move well become the problem areas.  How do we know which part of the movement chain isn’t moving if we don’t try to move each part individually?

A good warmup:

1. Connects your brain to your body so you are mindful of how you move
2. Raises your body temperature
3. Increases blood flow throughout the body
4. Prepares the joints and muscles for movement which helps prevent injuries and soreness

Sometimes I just do the warmup as a quick stand alone workout. I even created  a warmup routine that can be done first thing in the morning as a quick way to wake your body up. Click here to grab yours! 

What I love about this warmup is that you don’t have to be a “workout person” or in workout clothes to do it.

You don’t need to be in a gym, or have any equipment.
It’s challenging for the most fit folks, but do-able for the couch potatoes as well!!!

Click HERE to gain access to a free dynamic warmup!