How To Design Your Perfect Warmup | Dr Sam Spinelli | Modern Wisdom Podcast 162
Dr Sam Spinelli (guest), Chris Williamson (host)
In this episode of Modern Wisdom, featuring Dr Sam Spinelli and Chris Williamson, How To Design Your Perfect Warmup | Dr Sam Spinelli | Modern Wisdom Podcast 162 explores design Efficient Warmups That Boost Performance Without Wasting Time Dr. Sam Spinelli explains how to build simple, time‑efficient warmups that improve performance and reduce injury risk for lifting, CrossFit, and running. He breaks warmups into three essential 'buckets': getting physically warm, preparing joints and tissues for required ranges of motion, and neurologically priming the specific movements. Static stretching and fancy tools (foam rollers, massage guns, PNF) are largely unnecessary compared to dynamic, loaded movements that mimic the workout itself. He then gives practical, plug‑and‑play warmup templates and specific drills for overhead work, snatching, deadlifting, and front rack positioning.
Design Efficient Warmups That Boost Performance Without Wasting Time
Dr. Sam Spinelli explains how to build simple, time‑efficient warmups that improve performance and reduce injury risk for lifting, CrossFit, and running. He breaks warmups into three essential 'buckets': getting physically warm, preparing joints and tissues for required ranges of motion, and neurologically priming the specific movements. Static stretching and fancy tools (foam rollers, massage guns, PNF) are largely unnecessary compared to dynamic, loaded movements that mimic the workout itself. He then gives practical, plug‑and‑play warmup templates and specific drills for overhead work, snatching, deadlifting, and front rack positioning.
Key Takeaways
Build every warmup around three buckets: heat, range, and nerves.
A good warmup should (1) raise body temperature, (2) move joints through the ranges you’ll use, and (3) ramp up the nervous system for the specific movements and intensities to come.
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Use dynamic, movement‑based prep instead of long static stretching.
Static stretching before training neither meaningfully boosts performance nor range compared to lifting through full range of motion, and any small downsides disappear once you move around; dynamic drills and loaded eccentrics are more efficient and useful.
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Keep general warmups short, targeted, and repeatable.
For most people with limited time, 5–10 minutes of 4–5 dynamic drills (thoracic mobility, hip rotation, trunk stability, plus one or two personal ‘problem areas’) at a moderate pace is enough to get warm and mobile.
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Prime the exact movement pattern with light, technical sets.
After general prep, do a few minutes of skill work in the actual exercise (e. ...
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Target common limiters: thoracic spine, hips, and ankles.
Simple drills like side‑lying windmills (T‑spine), 90/90 hip rotations, and slow eccentric calf raises dramatically improve positioning for squats, snatches, and cleans without elaborate mobility routines.
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Warm up specific problem movements with specific drills.
Overhead issues respond well to bench T‑spine mobs and pullover‑style eccentrics; deadlift setup improves with hamstring eccentrics against a rig and lat activation; front rack comfort often hinges on shoulder external rotation work more than wrist stretching.
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Use prep drills between light sets, then drop them for heavy work.
You can sprinkle key mobility or activation drills between early warmup sets to reinforce new ranges and patterns, but once loads get heavy, you should focus on full rest and performance rather than extra exercises.
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Notable Quotes
“At the end of the day, whenever it comes to any of these activities, we always want to try to have the best performance we can. When we have a better performance, we reduce our injury risk.”
— Dr. Sam Spinelli
“For most people, static stretching is pretty low on the list. If you enjoy it, go for it, but most people don't really enjoy it and we can get the same benefits easier and better from other activities.”
— Dr. Sam Spinelli
“Most people don’t have a lot of time to screw around in the gym. So the question is: what will get me the best outcomes with a reasonable investment?”
— Dr. Sam Spinelli
“If you feel cold, you've not done a sufficient job. You should be able to move around and feel loose as a pretty good marker of a decent warmup.”
— Dr. Sam Spinelli
“For everyone deadlifting, don't pull your shoulder blades back. Pull them down.”
— Dr. Sam Spinelli
Questions Answered in This Episode
How would an ideal warmup change for someone older, deconditioned, or returning from injury compared to the average CrossFitter?
Dr. ...
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If you only had three minutes before a heavy lifting session, which single drill or pattern should you prioritize and why?
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How can athletes tell the difference between a mobility limitation that needs targeted work versus a technique issue that will improve just by practicing the lift?
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What are some signs during a session that your warmup was insufficient, and how should you adjust on the fly?
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How might warmup strategies differ across a week when someone is training multiple times per day or doing both strength and endurance work?
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Transcript Preview
... the first thing, get warm. Figure out whether you want to do that on the Erg, the bike, or doing some dynamic movements. Pick a few different dynamic movements if th- that's going to be your main thing, or if you just want to check off some boxes for getting in and out of the ranges you're going to go to. If we're talking about being in, like, a CrossFit class or general lifting, try to do, like, a thoracic range of motion drill, some sort of trunk stability exercise, some sort of hip motion exercise. And then after that, s- either do some accessory range of motion drills if you need to, such as, like, the shoulder ones we discussed or the hip ones. Afterwards, get into the specific exercises that you're going to start to do for the day, do some skill work for a few minutes, get moving fast on it though, be deliberate with it, and then get into what you're doing. Start training.
(wind blowing) Sam Spinelli in the building. How are you doing, man?
I'm doing fantastic. How about you?
Yeah, very good. What do you think is more difficult to control, the human body or Skype when you're trying to record a podcast?
Oh, man. I think I'm going to have to shift towards Skype today. If you asked me before, I would have said a different answer, but-
Yeah. Th- we have had an absolute technical nightmare, but we've wrangled it, we're here, um, and we're talking. So I want to, um, I want to talk about warm-ups today. Everyone that's listening, even from the people that don't do sport anymore and they just did PE in school, they'll have had to do some sort of a warm-up. And I don't have a clue, really, why I should be doing a warm-up. I do one at the start of every CrossFit class. When I did Thai boxing, I was warming up there. I've got programmed warm-ups from my swim coach if I do swimming or anything, you know, you warm up to do it. I even kind of like cough a little bit before I speak on a podcast.
(laughs)
Everything has that, like, on-ramp to begin it, right? But I don't know, where do we start? Like, why, why do we warm up? Why should we do it?
No, it's a really important, uh, question. And at the end of the day, whenever it comes to any of these activities, whether we're talking about swimming, talking on a podcast, or working out, we always want to try to have the best performance we can. When we have a better performance, we reduce our injury risk. When we have a better performance, we have better outcomes. They're just the desired outcomes at the end of the day. And warming up, regardless of the activity, is going to help to do that. If you look at, uh, pretty much high l- any high level activity, people do this in where they progress in certain ways, and, um, they build up into the activity so that they can then perform at their peak when they're doing the actual activity. And if you don't have that progression into it, then you're just gonna be going from cold d- into it. Like, you have an increased risk of injury, you are gonna have a poor performance. There's just tons of negative outcomes with it.
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