Warm It Up

So this morning I had another training session with my mentor, to be able to teach strength/bootcamp classes at my gym. It went really well.

She'd asked me to come up with a warm up routine to show her...I...flailed around some. Marched in place. Didn't really know what the heck I was doing, but did it with a smile and braced myself for the eye rolling.

You know what happened next?

She didn't roll her eyes. 


You read that right. I, white girl extraordinnaire, in capable of keeping a rhythm even when electrically shocked to a beat, did not get an eye roll from a woman who's been teaching this stuff for over 15 years. I respect the hell out of this woman, and got embarrassingly panicky last night when I realized I really had no idea how to come up with a freaking warmup. Seriously. Lame.

But, after flailing around a bit, she said "ok, why don't we start with marching and go from there. What other moves did you want in there?" And we built a pretty solid warmup. God bless her, she patiently took me through the whole thing, explaining transitions and how to make sure everyone can keep up with what I'm doing. (It's cute that she thought I could keep up with what I was doing.)

In any case, here's my new (trademark pending) warmup routine for strength/bootcamp:

March in place.

For extra challenge, lift your knees higher!

Single side step.

For extra challenge, add the arms!

Double side step.

Grapevine.

I know grapevines are one of those things that you either love or hate...I love them. They're one of the few things that look like a cartoon dance, that I can actually do with out falling, 9 times out of 10. 

Grapevine with hamstring curl.

You'll notice my hamstring curls got silly, and quick.

Hamstring curl.

V step.

Out, out, in, in. Boom.

Wide step.

Like the march, but wider. 

Squat.

Keep your arms in front, to force your butt back, to make sure you have good form. 

Knees shouldn't go past your toes - save your knees. Squats can be half squats at  this point.  

Back Stretch.

I can also throw in some arm movements, to warm those up:

I got lazy with the picture sizes, sorry.

So that's it.  Class, you are now warmed up and ready to get bootcamped. Huzzah!

Next week, I need to lead her in that, then I'll probably teach half a class, then I'm (gulp) on my own! Fun stuff!

What are your favorite group ex moves (minimal choreo, please)? 
What are your favorite songs in group ex classes?