Squat Day; Essentials Only Warm-up (Part 3)
We’re back for Part 3 of our Essentails Only Warm-up series! Today we’re talking squat day warm-up.
Remember, an “essentials only warm-up” means we’re hitting only the basics:
Full-body movement
Mobility work / movement prep
Warm-up sets
Let’s go!
Full-body movement
Just like I said before; simplicity is key.
You can walk, jog (slowly), cycle, jump some rope, hop on the rower or the stair climber… honestly whatever cardio equipment/modality you’re into fits in here.
We want to keep it low intensity as to not detract from our lift that follows or our energy stores in a major way. Aim for 5-10 minutes.
If you don’t have access to cardio equipment in any format & getting outside is out of the question, get creative! Do some laps around your house/the gym. Find a set of stairs and walk up and down a few levels. Do some jumping jacks. Dance around. Just get moving.
Mobility work / Movement prep
You can find TONS of “mobility flows” online, I’m sure some specific to a squat-focused lift. But like always, we go the simple route & leave the fancy (most of the time less effective) exercises to the online fitspos.
Typically for a squat day I focus on these aspects:
Ankle mobility
Hip mobility
Knee drive & depth
Ankle Mobility:
I’m a fan of implementing a wall-ankle mobility drill here.
What that looks like:
Position yourself in front of & facing a wall or sturdy structure
Place one foot about a fist-length away from the wall/structure, back knee can be on the ground or you can be in a split stance position
Lean forward, working to drive your knee into the wall in front of you while keeping your heel on the ground
Hold your forward lean for ~5-10s, repeat for 3-5 reps on each side & 2-3 sets total
Focus on engaging your foot tripod here, too!
Working in this specific ankle mobility addresses your squat from the ground-up. If we have improved ankle mobility, our squat will improve.
Honorable mention: There are tons of other ankle mobility drills you can find online. If that’s not so much your “thing” you can sub in a deep squat hold (with or without assistance).
Hip mobility:
My current favorite is a half-kneeling kettlebell hip opener.
To execute a half-kneeling kettlebell hip opener:
Come to a half kneeling position with one knee bent on the ground & that foot slightly rotated in towards your mid-line / under your body
The other knee will be bent to a 90 degree angle angled slightly out from your hip (think a 45 degree angle from your hip) - you can place your front knee even further out to the side to increase mobility if able
Hold the weight in both hands with arms extended & in front of your body
Keep an upright torso, gently & slowly lean into the “up” knee, driving your knee in the same direction as your toes
Lean as far as you can, then pause & hold for 5-10s, repeat 3-5 reps on each side for 2-3 sets
Unilateral mobility drills like this one & the wall-ankle drill above can help us assess any differences between the two sides that can affect the workout that follows.
Adding a weight to this hip opener helps to increase mobility before we load the entire body in your squat.
Honorable mentions: Half-kneeling hip CARs, 90/90 hip rotations
Knee drive & depth:
My go-to is a cyclist squat or box squat… or both!
[Cyclist Squat] The reasoning: Elevating the heels in the cyclist squat helps to focus on the intentional knee drive forward, in line with your toes (yes, this is NOT bad!) & can help you work into deeper ranges of motion.
[Box Squat] The reasoning: Unlike the cyclist squat, a box squat incorporates any “limitations” of ankle mobility by placing the heels on the ground. Squatting to a box or other object also means you’re very intentional about the depth you’re reaching, something that we want to make sure we focus on with heavier loads later on.
Honorable mentions: Unilateral work fits great here, too. Bodyweight split squats or reverse lunges can help us warm-up for a squat day, too.
Warm-up sets
Just like the OHP day, in your squat day we want to utilize warm-up sets to build into your working, heavier loads. This might be anywhere from 1-3 warm-up sets BUT you can always add more if needed to really build up load & comfort.
There are a few things to note on this front:
You should be incrementally building/increasing load going from your warm-up sets into your working sets.
You should be taking adequate rest between each set to make sure we’re not accumulating a lot of fatigue before you get to your working weights (60+ seconds).
There’s no hard & fast rules about warm-up sets. Just start with a light weight, knock out some reps, rest, increase weight & continue on with that pattern.
As an example:
If your working weight ranges from 150-165# for your squat, start with 95# & execute 8-10 slow reps. From there you may jump to 125# for ~8 reps and again after increasing to 135# or 145# for your last 1-2 warm-up sets!
You shouldn’t feel super tired after any of those sets or like you’re struggling to get the next rep. I like to suggest always cutting warm-up reps shorter rather than doing 10+ reps for each warm-up sets.
Remember: Warm-up sets should leave you feeling more & more confident, not more and more tired. Take full rest breaks between them!
put it together;
SQUAT essentials-only warm-up
5-10 mins full-body movement of your choice
2-3 rounds (rest as needed or ~30s between exercises & rounds):
wall-ankle mobility drill; 2 sets, 3 leans, 5s hold each side
half-kneeling KB hip opener; 2 sets, 3 leans, 8s hold each side
cyclist squat; 2 sets, 8 reps
box squat; 2 sets 8 reps
1-3 warm-up sets @ RPE 5, 6, 7
And there you have it!
A full warm-up for your squat day that checks the necessities & gets you ready to go.
Drop your questions in the comments & let me know what you want to see next:
A squat or deadlift essentials-only warm-up?
Hey, I’m Kirsi!
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