The Ultimate Leg Day Warm Up

Leg day is hard. And while we know how much you want to get straight into your workout, the last thing we want you to do is make it even harder by not warming up. Carving out just 5-10 minutes for a warm-up can actually improve your workout tenfold, not to mention reducing your risk of injury.

There are plenty of reasons why people skip their warm-up time and time again, but this workout essential is a Sweat non-negotiable. A good warm-up increases your body temperature and blood flow to your muscles, preparing your body, mobilising your joints, and reducing your risk of injury. As you go through your warm-up, the amount of synovial fluid in your joints increases, helping your body to move more efficiently and better absorb the stress of any impact or weight.

Performing dynamic stretches and bodyweight exercises that mimic the movements in your workout also prepares your nervous system and mind for what’s to come - effectively waking your entire system up to help you get the most of your session.

Warming up on leg day is particularly important as you’re working some of the largest muscles in your body and potentially under heavy loads. If you want to move well and lift well, you need to warm up well, whether it’s your first workout ever or you’ve been working out for years.

To make it easy, every workout in the Sweat app comes with its own optional dynamic warm-up with exercises to suit your session or you can select five minutes of cardio instead, but if you ever need a leg day warm-up, you can’t go wrong with these eight exercises!

Leg swings

These warm up your glutes, hips and the muscles in your legs, as well as warming up your feet and ankles by balancing on one leg.

1. Stand with your feet hip-width apart, holding something for support with your left hand if you need.

2. Lift your right foot off the floor and start swinging your leg back and forth, using your core to keep your torso stabilised.

3. You can start with gentle small swings and build up to bigger swings as you feel more comfortable.

4. Continue swinging the leg backwards and forwards for 15-30 seconds before switching sides. You can also perform these with your leg swinging left and right in front of your body rather than forwards and backwards.

Bodyweight squat

If your leg day workout includes squats, performing a few bodyweight squats before you begin is a great way to get your mind and body in the game. Focus on moving with control and feeling your muscles engage.

1. Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart.

2. Looking straight ahead, bend at both the hips and knees, ensuring that your knees remain in line with your toes. Continue bending your knees as you lower into a squat, aiming to have your upper legs parallel with the floor while your torso remains upright.

3. Push through your heels and extend your legs to return to a standing position. Repeat for 15-30 seconds.

Walking lunges

Bodyweight walking lunges engage several major muscle groups in your legs, glutes and core, as well as bringing those smaller stabiliser muscles to the party every time you’re balancing on one leg.

1. Stand with your feet slightly further than shoulder width apart.

2. Take a big step forward with your left foot, then bend into a lunge with both knees at approximately 90-degrees. Your front knee should be aligned with your ankle and your back knee should be hovering just off the floor.

3. Push through the heel of your left foot and toe of your right foot to stand up, transferring your weight onto your left foot and taking a large step forward with your right foot. As you plant your right foot, bend into another lunge with both knees at approximately 90-degrees into lunge position.

4. Continue alternating between left and right as you find a comfortable walking lunge rhythm.

Glute bridge

Glute bridges help to warm up your glutes (go figure), hamstrings, core, quads and lower back. They can be done using just your bodyweight or you can loop a short resistance band just above your knees to add some extra tension.

1. Start by lying flat on your back on a yoga mat with your knees bent and feet flat on the floor, hip-width apart. Keep your spine in a neutral position and allow your arms to rest by your sides on the mat.

2. Press your heels into the mat and squeeze your glutes to raise your pelvis off the floor until your body forms one straight line from chin to knee, resting on your shoulders.

3. Lower your pelvis to return to the starting position. Repeat for 15-30 seconds.

Crab or lateral walks

This exercise is best performed with a short resistance band - you’ll really feel it in your glutes and hips.

1. With a resistance band looped around your ankles, stand with your feet hip-width apart. Keep your knees in line with your toes and stand upright.

2. Take a step outwards with your left foot so your feet are slightly further than hip-width apart and the tension increases in your resistance band.

3. Take a small step in the same direction with your right foot, but still keep enough distance between your feet to maintain some resistance in the band.

4. Continue this side-stepping motion, walking like a crab!

5. Repeat for either 10 steps on each side or 15 seconds on each side.

Good mornings

Good mornings are an amazing exercise to warm up your posterior chain - that’s all the muscles down the back side of your body including your glutes, hamstrings, back and calves. You can perform them as a bodyweight exercise as Sarah Smith is demonstrating, or rest a wooden dowel on your shoulders as if it was a barbell.

1. Stand with your feet hip-width apart with a wooden dowel, broomstick or light barbell resting on your shoulders. Draw your shoulder blades down and back to push your chest out slightly.

2. Bend your knees slightly and set this as a fixed angle. Without changing the angle of your knees, hinge forwards from your hips, keeping your chest proud and your head in line with your spine. You should feel tension in your hamstrings (back of your legs).

3. Push through your heels and, using your glutes and hamstrings, extend your hips to return to the starting position. Repeat for 15-30 seconds.

World’s greatest stretch

We love the world’s greatest stretch in a workout warm-up, running warm-up or a post-workout cooldown. It’s so versatile and ticks off almost every part of your body. In a leg day warm-up, focus on engaging the muscles in your legs and feeling a gentle stretch through your hips as you rotate your arm up and down.

1. Start in a standing position with your feet hip-width apart.

2. Take a big step forward with your left foot to come into a deep lunge with your right leg extended behind you, resting on the ball of your foot with your right knee lifted off the ground. Make sure your left knee remains stacked over your ankle.

3. Place both hands on the floor on the inside of your left foot and hold the stretch for three to five seconds, breathing deeply throughout.

4. Keeping your right leg extended with your knee elevated off the floor, release your left hand and reach your arm up towards the ceiling, rotating your torso towards your left knee and turning your gaze up towards your left hand.

5. Hold this position for the specified amount of time, breathing deeply throughout. Repeat this stretch on the other side.

Warm up to level up

With these exercises, consider your next leg day warm-up sorted! If you want to check out the warm-ups that accompany every workout in the Sweat app, a 7-day free trial is the perfect way to see how it all works.