How to Warm Up for CrossFit Class and Heavy Days
Updated: 23 hours ago
Two athletes walk into the same early-morning class. The whiteboard reads back squat, 5 sets of 3 at around 80% of your 1-rep max. Same program, same coach, similar strength on paper. Forty minutes later, one of them has five crisp sets in the log. The other has one good set, two grinders and a lower back that "just felt off from the start."
Neither of them is a single real person. They are a composite of athletes I've coached, and if you have trained for any length of time, you have probably been both. I know I have. What separated their mornings was not fitness or effort. It was the twenty minutes before the first working set.
IN THIS ARTICLE
The athlete who arrived with four minutes to spare
The first athlete walks in as the coach is finishing the briefing. They join the group warm-up halfway through, do a few arm circles and some quick air squats, and drift to the rack while everyone else is still on the rower. The empty bar gets five fast reps. Then, with one eye on the clock, they skip the middle of the ramp and load something close to working weight.
The first working set is ugly. The hips shoot up out of the bottom, the bar drifts forward, and the depth that felt automatic last week is suddenly hard to find. Set two is better, because set one was really the warm-up. By the fourth set the legs are tired from fighting a body that was never prepared, and the last set turns into a grind with a spotter hovering. Nothing dramatic happened. The session simply delivered a fraction of what it could have.
The athlete who used every minute
The second athlete arrives a few minutes early and spends them on a known limiter: stiff ankles. A couple of sets of ankle rocks, a goblet squat hold with some gentle movement in the bottom, a few hip openers. Nothing sweaty, nothing long.
When the class warm-up starts, they treat it as the first part of training. Five to eight minutes of easy, rhythmic work: an easy row, then two or three relaxed rounds of 10 air squats, 10 push-ups (incline is fine), 10 walking lunges and 10 ring rows. They start slow and let the pace build over the last minute or two, finishing warm and breathing a little harder, not tired.
Then comes the part most people rush. They take the empty bar for 8 to 10 reps and give it the same attention they will give the heaviest set. They climb in steady jumps, fewer reps each time, resting a little longer as the bar gets heavier. By the time they reach 80%, the first working set feels like the next step on a staircase rather than a leap off a ledge. Five sets of three, and they all look the same.
General to specific: the principle underneath
A good warm-up does four jobs. It raises body temperature and heart rate so muscles and joints move more freely and your breathing is ready for work. It moves the joints you will use through the ranges the session requires. It rehearses the movement pattern so technique is dialed in before load or speed arrive. And it prepares the nervous system to produce force quickly, which matters most before heavy or explosive work.
Coaches often describe this with frameworks such as RAMP: raise, activate, mobilize, potentiate. The names matter less than the order. Start broad and easy, finish specific and sharp. The general piece can be rowing, biking, skiing, jump rope or light jogging. The middle piece changes with the day: goblet squat holds, hip openers and ankle rocks before squats; PVC pass-throughs, PVC overhead squats, band pull-aparts and wrist circles before overhead work; scapular pull-ups, kip swings and hollow and arch holds before pulling and gymnastics; leg swings, A-skips, high knees and a few strides before running. One or two sets of each is enough.
Keep that middle section active and brief. Before training, dynamic movement is a better choice than long static stretching, because very long static holds just before heavy or explosive work may slightly reduce force for a short time. If you need longer stretching, save it for after the session or a separate time.
Coach's cue: If your first working set feels like a warm-up, you skipped the warm-up.
Anatomy of a good ramp
Here is roughly what the second athlete did on the way to 5 x 3 at 80% on back squat:
Set | Load | Reps |
|---|---|---|
1 | Empty bar | 8–10 |
2 | About 40% | 5 |
3 | About 55% | 3 |
4 | About 65% | 2–3 |
5 | About 75% | 1–2 |
Work | 80% | 5 x 3 |
The principles matter more than the exact numbers. Reps go down as the weight goes up, because warm-up sets should never tire you out. Jumps get smaller as you approach working weight: big jumps early, small jumps late. Rest increases with the load, from a minute or less at the start to something close to your working rest in the last warm-up sets. And every rep is technical practice, the empty bar included.
For a 1-rep max attempt, add a couple more singles in the 85–95% range with full rest, and keep total warm-up volume low so you arrive fresh for the attempts that count.
When the clock is the heavy part
Swap the barbell for a stopwatch and the same two athletes would split the same way. On conditioning days, the rule is simple: the shorter and harder the workout, the more thorough the specific warm-up needs to be. A 5-minute sprint starts at very high intensity, so you need to have been close to that effort before the clock starts.
For short, intense pieces, practice each movement at workout weight or speed, then do one or two short bursts of 15–20 seconds at race pace. Rest 2–4 minutes and go. Longer workouts are more forgiving. Practice the movements and loads, rehearse your planned set breaks, and accept that the first minutes will act as part of the warm-up, which means you can start a little closer to working intensity.
Making the class warm-up your own
Most classes include a coach-led warm-up, and it is a good one to use well. Arrive a few minutes early to address your own limiters, such as tight ankles or stiff wrists. Take the ramping sets seriously even when class time is short: fewer, well-chosen jumps beat one big leap. If you need a different progression or load for the workout, ask your coach before the clock starts, not halfway through.
The mistakes I see fall into four families. Too little is the late arrival's error, going from the empty bar straight to working weight or starting a sprint cold. Too much is the long, sweaty circuit or the pile of heavy warm-up sets that leaves you tired before the real work begins. Too generic is the same routine every day, whether the session is heavy snatches or a long run. Too rushed is skipping the last one or two ramping sets because class is running late, and those are the sets that matter most.
Treat the warm-up as information, too. If something feels wrong, such as sharp pain or a joint that will not settle, adjust the session, reduce the load or skip that movement, and see a physio if it persists. When you are building your own session, this template covers it:
General: 5–8 minutes easy, building gradually.
Mobility and activation: 3–5 minutes aimed at the joints and positions of the day.
Specific: 5–15 minutes rehearsing the actual movements, ramping load or speed toward working intensity.
Fifteen to twenty-five minutes covers most sessions, with heavy days and short, intense workouts at the longer end.
Give every session a purpose
The second athlete was not more talented. They simply knew what the session was for and prepared for that, which is the habit I want every athlete to build. A good warm-up is part of a well-planned session, not an afterthought. Sphere Programming delivers structured engine and gymnastics sessions that complement your classes, each with a clear purpose and logged in the app.
Want help fitting it all into your week? Talk to me.
Your turn. Tried this? Tell me how it went in the comments below. I read every one, and your questions help shape what I write next. If it helped, tap the heart so it reaches more athletes.
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Further reading: CrossFit
Coach Fritz Bautista · Head Coach, ATHLETESPHERE
CrossFit Level 2 Trainer (CF-L2) ✓ · CrossFit Programming Certificate · MBA · Digital Marketing Certified · Coaching athletes from all walks of life online
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