The 10-minute warm-up that protects your performance

By Geoff Scott, Founder & Senior Physiotherapist, Hauora

The warm-up is the part of training people are most tempted to skip, and the part that protects everything else they do. A good warm-up raises your core temperature, wakes up the nervous system and primes the exact movements you are about to ask your body to produce. Done well, it is the warm-up that protects performance for everything that follows.

Why it actually matters

Cold muscle is stiff muscle. Going from sitting at a desk straight into a heavy session or a sprint asks tissue to do something it is not ready for, and that is where strains and tweaks happen. Two minutes of jogging does not fix this. You need to move through the ranges you are about to load.

The Hauora 10-minute warm-up that protects performance

• Two minutes of easy cardio to raise the heart rate
• Hip, ankle and thoracic mobility through full range
• Activation work for glutes and core
• Movement-specific drills that rehearse the session
• One or two build-up efforts at increasing intensity

Backed by evidence, not habit

This is not guesswork. In fact, the NHS guidance on how to warm up before exercising recommends a structured routine to cut injury risk. This principle is backed by decades of sports science. Similarly, we apply the same graded approach with the athletes we support. This includes the return-to-play work covered in our interview on Geoff Scott’s contribution to The Athletic. Whether you are returning from injury or preparing for a title decider, the approach stays the same. In short, it is the warm-up that protects performance, repeated until it becomes automatic.

Make it non-negotiable

The athletes who stay available are not the ones who train hardest. They are the ones who never skip the basics. Build the warm-up into the session so it is not a decision you have to make when you are short on time.