Joint Warm-ups

Joints hold the body together and if our students have been sitting at their desks all day and commuting to work, their joints are probably very tight and stiff.  Before tossing limbs about, it is essential to warm up the major joints that will be employed during the workout.  I have used the following progression recently:

1. Head rolls (deep slow rolling of the head from one shoulder, down to the sternum and up to the opposite shoulder and then all the way up trying to touch the back of the head in between the shoulder blades)
2. Head twists (Slowly turning the head side to side as far as it will go)
3. Head nods (Slowly nodding the head back and forth as far as it will go)
4. Shoulder rolls (Shrugging the shoulders up and rolling them back trying to scrape the shoulder blades together
5. Arm rotations (Spread arms wide parallel to the floor and make small circles , gradually making the circles larger (forwards and backwards)
6. Arm crossovers: (Straight arms cross in front and then spread them out wide (back and forth)
7. Trunk Rolls (Lean as far forward as you can and roll making sure you lean as far back as you can (look behind you if you can)  [clockwise, then counterclockwise)]
8. Hip Rolls (Veritical) (Chamber for a front kick and rotate you hip outward as far as you can and put it back down)  [Left and Right]
9. Hip Rolls (Horizontal) (Chamber for a front kick and rotate it into a round kick chamber and rotate it outward and put it down behind you) [left/right]