Need to Warm Up for Olympic Weightlifting? Here’s Greg Everett’s Routine

Catalyst Athletics founder Greg Everett puts out a bunch of great content on the sport of weightlifting, and he’s been doing so for years. Recently, Everett tackled one of the most overlooked aspects of training for weightlifting: the warm-up. What do you do to get your body prepared for lifting and various barbell ranges of motion without just sort of…winging it?

In the video embedded below, Everett leads us through a structured warm-up routine designed to be done before picking up the barbell. Obviously, the optimal warm-up routine will vary from lifter to lifter, and this doesn’t necessarily mean it’s the right call to go directly into the full barbell movements as soon as the below sequence is over.

BUT, if you’re looking to add a little more structure to your warm-up — and maybe some structure will help you actually take the time to prep instead of hopping under a barbell cold — this could be a good start. Running through the entire sequence — including the mono-structural work Everett suggests doing to start getting warm — will take around 10 minutes.

Everett suggests beginning with 2-5 minutes of something like rowing, cycling, or jogging. Follow that with a foam rolling series, then run through the following series of drills. Perform 10-15 reps (each direction for some movements) or 10-30 seconds for the static movements.

Wrist circles
Elbow circles
Seal swings
Over & backs
Freestyle bounce
Arm circles – forward & backward
Trunk rotations
Hip circles – both directions
Bow & bend
Knee circles – both directions
Leg swings
Squatting ankle stretch
Russian baby maker

What do you think of Greg Everett’s latest warm-up video? Are there any tweaks, additions, or substitutions you’d make? Tell us more about what you’ve found to be effective for weightlifting warm-ups in the comments below!

Featured image: Catalyst Athletics on YouTube