Warm-up exercises: 15-minute routine

Why are warm-up exercises important?

Warming up before exercising helps your body get ready to be active by gradually and safely:

• increasing your body temperature
• increasing your heart rate
• increasing your blood pressure
• widening blood vessels.

By making these changes the body ensures your heart muscle is receiving plenty of oxygen-rich blood before you start doing more intense activity.

This is particularly important for people with cardiovascular diseases, such as angina, heart failure or abnormal heart rhythms (arrhythmias).

Warm-up exercises also warm up your muscles and joints, increasing their flexibility and reducing the risk of injury.

• A cardiac nurse explains what your heart rate should be during exercise.

How intense should a warm-up routine be?

When you warm up, you should be working at a low intensity. This means feeling a little bit warmer, but still easily able to hold a conversation.

If you’ve gone through cardiac rehabilitation, you may have heard of a rating system from 6 to 20 that can help you work out how intense exercises should feel.

This is called rate of perceived exertion (RPE), or the BORG Scale. During your warm-up exercises, you should aim for around 10 on this scale.

What does this warm-up routine involve?

This warm-up routine lasts around 15 minutes. It contains 6 rounds, including 1 round of stretches.

We’ll start off with some simple lower body exercises, and then gradually add in some arm movements.

Each round will be slightly more intense. If you find it takes you above 11 on the RPE scale, leaving you feeling very breathless and unable to talk when you’re exercising, you can repeat the previous round instead. But make sure to complete at least 5 rounds of exercises and 1 round of stretches.

Try not to stop moving between rounds or while you’re stretching. To keep your heart rate up, you can gently march on the spot or immediately start the next exercise.

You can try these exercises standing up or sitting down, or a mix of both. If you’re standing up, you can hold onto a stable surface like a wall or sturdy chair for balance if you need to.

I’ll be demonstrating each exercise standing up, while Stefano, who has been through cardiac rehabilitation, will show you how to do them sitting down.

Check with your doctor before you start any new form of exercise if you have a cardiovascular disease, or you’re concerned it will make an existing medical issue or injury worse.

And stop immediately and contact your GP if you feel unwell, very short of breath, chest pain, dizziness or heart palpitations during this warm up. 

Round 1 exercises

For the first round, try these 4 lower body exercises. You can keep your hands by your side or on your hips as you perform each movement.

1. March on the spot

1. Sit or stand with your feet hip-width apart.
2. Start marching. Lift each foot off the floor as high as is comfortable before putting it back on the ground. Keep a steady, slow pace.
3. Lift each leg 16 to 20 times.

2. Foot pedals

1. Sit or stand with your feet hip-width apart.
2. Lift 1 heel off the floor, keeping your toes on the ground.
3. As you lower it back down, lift the other heel off the floor. 
4. Repeat 16 to 20 times on both sides.

3. Side taps

1. Sit or stand with your feet hip-width apart.
2. Move 1 leg out to the side and tap your toes on the floor.
3. Move your leg back in line with your other leg.
4. Tap the toes of your other leg out to the other side.
5. Repeat 16 to 20 times on both sides.

4. Knee raises

1. Sit or stand with your feet hip-width apart.
2. Slowly lift 1 knee as high as you can while keeping your back straight.
3. Gradually lower your leg back down again.
4. Repeat on the opposite side.
5. Repeat 16 to 20 times on both sides.

Round 2 exercises

Next, it’s time to combine these 4 exercises with an added upper body movement.

1. March with shoulder rolls 

1. Lift and lower your right leg while rolling both shoulders backwards in a circle.
2. Lift and lower your left leg while rolling both shoulders backwards.
3. Lift each leg 16 to 20 times.

2. Foot pedals with alternating bicep curls

1. As you lift your right heel off the floor, bend your left elbow to move your hand up towards your shoulder to perform a curl.
2. Lower your right heel and left arm.
3. As you lift your left heel off the floor, curl your right arm.
4. Lower your left heel and right arm.
5. Repeat 16 to 20 times on both sides.

3. Side taps with alternating side raises

1. Start with your arms by your side.
2. As you move your right leg out to the right, raise your right arm directly out to the side too. keeping a slight bend in your elbow.
3. Move your leg and arm back to the start.
4. Tap the toes of your left leg to the left and lift your left arm out to the side.
5. Repeat 16 to 20 times on both sides.

4. Knee raises with hand taps

1. As you lift your right knee, tap the top of your thigh with your left hand.
2. Lower your leg back down again and put your hand back down by your side.
3. Lift your left knee and tap your leg with your right hand.
4. Repeat 16 to 20 times on both sides.

Round 3 exercises

In this round, you’ll perform a more intense upper body movement.

1. March with shoulder rolls

1. Lift and lower your right leg while rolling both shoulders backwards in a circle.
2. Lift and lower your left leg while rolling both shoulders backwards.
3. Lift each leg 16 to 20 times.

2. Foot pedals with double bicep curls

1. As you lift your right heel off the floor, bend both elbows to curl your hands towards your shoulders, then lower your heel and both arms.
2. As you lift your left heel off the floor, curl both arms, then lower your heel and arms.
3. Repeat 16 to 20 times on both sides.

3. Side taps with double side raises

1. As you move your right leg out to the right, raise both arms out to the sides.
2. Move your leg and arms back to the start.
3. Repeat on the other leg.
4. Repeat 16 to 20 times on both sides.

4. Knee raises with alternating punches

1. As you lift your right knee, punch your left hand in a fist straight in front of you to perform a punch.
2. Gradually lower the leg back down again and move your hand back by your side.
3. Lift your left knee and punch your right hand in front of you.
4. Repeat 16 to 20 times on both sides.

Round 4 exercises

Now, we’ll progress each exercise again.

1. March with elbow circles

1. Put your hands on your shoulders as you roll them backwards and move your elbows in a circle, while lifting your legs higher if you can.
2. Lift each leg 16 to 20 times.

2. Calf raises with bicep curls

1. Try to lift both heels off the floor while curling both arms.
2. Lower both heels and both arms.
3. Repeat 16 to 34 times.

3. Side taps with higher side raises

• Move each leg out further and raise both arms out to the side all the way up to shoulder height. If you cannot lift your arms any higher, try performing the exercise faster.
• Repeat 16 to 20 times on both sides.

4. Knee raises with double punches

1. Punch both hands in front of you as you lift each knee. If you can, try raising your knees higher.
2. Repeat 16 to 20 times on both sides.

Round 5 stretching exercises

Keep lightly marching on the spot as you stretch to keep your heart rate and blood pressure raised.

1. Chest stretch

1. Sit or stand with your feet hip-width apart.
2. Place your hands on your lower back and squeeze your elbows towards each other.
3. Or interlace your fingers behind your back and pull the arms straight behind you.
4. Hold the stretch for 5 to 10 seconds.

2. Cross body stretch

1. Sit or stand with your feet hip-width apart.
2. Hold your right arm straight out in front of you, then put your left hand below or above your elbow to pull it across your chest to the left side.
3. Hold the stretch for 5 to 10 seconds.
4. Repeat on the other side.

3. Hamstring stretch

1. Sit or stand with your feet hip-width apart.
2. Place the heel of 1 foot forwards, keeping the knee straight.
3. Send the hips and bottom backwards and move your upper body forwards slightly, keeping your back straight.
4. Rest your hands on your bent leg and hold the stretch for 5 to 10 seconds.
5. Repeat on the other side.

4. Side bends

1. Sit or stand with your feet hip-width apart and your arms by your side.
2. Bend to 1 side, sliding your arm down your leg toward your knee, so your shoulder moves down towards the side.
3. If you want to, stretch your other arm up and over your head.
4. Hold the stretch for 5 to 10 seconds.
5. Repeat on the other side.

Round 6 exercises

For your final round, repeat the exercises in round 4 to make sure you’re warm after stretching.

Once you’ve completed this round, you’re ready to start your workout.

When you’ve finished exercising, it’s important to cool down to lower your heart rate gradually.

To cool down, you can follow this warm up in reverse by starting at round 6 and ending at round 1, or you can try our cool-down exercises.

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