The Barbell Warm-Up We Run Before Every Lifting Day (Coach Kirsty's Flow)

Most lifters get the warm-up wrong.

They jog for a minute, do a couple of shoulder swings, then go straight to the bar.

Then they wonder why the first working set feels heavy, why the bar drifts, why the back rounds, why the dip leans forward. The warm-up wasn't a warm-up. It was a stretch.

Coach Kirsty's barbell warm-up is what we run before any lifting day at Sixty7Six. Eight movements, five reps each, in order. By the time you finish it, your body has rehearsed every piece you're about to do under load.

Here's the flow, and why each piece is in it.

The flow

Empty barbell. Five reps each. No rest between movements.

· High pulls / shrugs to the knee — drive the bar up your body, elbows high, shoulders to ears.

· Muscle cleans to the knee — big shrug, quick turnover of the elbows, bar lands in the front rack.

· Strict press — bar in front rack, press overhead. Warms the shoulders.

· Push press — small dip, drive overhead. Bar travels through the window your arms make.

· Push jerk — dip, jump, drive under. Locks the position you're about to ask for under load.

· Front squat — five reps, lead with the elbows on the way up. Open up the squat pattern.

· Hang squat clean (3 reps) — down to the knee, big shrug, full-depth squat catch, stand tall.

· Full squat clean (3 reps) — from mid-shin, big jump and shrug, full squat catch, stand tall.

Why this order, not a random one

The flow walks up the body and up the complexity at the same time.

The first two movements (high pulls, muscle cleans) wake the pull up. They teach the bar to travel close to the body and the shoulders to drive the elbows high.

The next three (strict press, push press, push jerk) wake the overhead up. You go from no leg drive (strict press) to a little (push press) to a lot (push jerk). The shoulders and the legs learn to share the work.

The front squat opens the squat. Now you've practised pulling, you've practised pressing, and you're ready to load the legs through a full range of motion.

Then the hang and full squat cleans put it all together. Pull, catch, squat, stand. By the time you finish, your body has done a rep of everything you're about to do for real — at a weight that lets you focus on the position, not the load.

Coach Kirsty's cues across the flow

A few things she'll cue as you move through it:

· Bar close to the body. All the way through. On the pulls, on the cleans, on the way down. The bar lives close — drifting bars are slow bars.

· Shoulders to ears on the shrug. Big finish at the top. That's what creates the pull that catches a clean.

· Push the bar through the window your arms make on the push press. Not in front of the face — through the face.

· Lead with the elbows out of the squat — same cue as in our front squat work (https://www.sixty7six.com.au/blog). Keeps the rack honest.

·        Catch in the full squat on the cleans — not a power clean. The catch is the squat.

Make it part of the program, not a thing you rush

The warm-up isn't separate from the workout. It's the first part of the workout. The lifter who walks up the bar properly is the lifter whose first working set looks like the one in their head.

Five reps. Eight movements. Empty bar. It takes about three or four minutes if you don't rush it. That's the cheapest position work you'll do all day.

Walk up the bar. Then go to work 💙

Want to learn the flow with a coach watching? Book a free intro class (https://6076fitness.wodify.com/OnlineSalesPortal/ViewSchedule.aspx?LocationId=10335&OnlineMembershipId=232324) at Sixty7Six in Walliston (https://www.sixty7six.com.au/about) and we'll walk you up to your first lifting day properly.