Warm Up for the Performance You Want
Warm up well for the intensity required: Do what you need to do to be ready to go as hard as you plan to go.
A good warm-up is instrumental to any performance, whether it's a hard workout or a race. You give yourself the best opportunity to perform if you're both mentally and physically prepared.
Any good warm-up will help you get ready for whatever session you’re planning. The harder and more intense the session, the more thorough and intense we need the warm-up to be. For a very intense workout or a race, it might take 20 to 30 minutes of progressive intensity and a few short bursts of high intensity to be fully primed and focused for the task at hand. On the other hand, if you’re doing a general aerobic conditioning session you won’t need to do anything beyond simply easing into your pace over the first 10 to 20 minutes of the session.
Getting Your Body Warm and Primed
The main feature of a good warm-up is getting your body warm. As muscles warm and blood flow increases, aerobic enzymes operate at peak capacity—warmer muscles with more oxygen burn fuel more easily and efficiently.
As you exercise, your hormones and nervous system adjust to the new demands, becoming hormonally and neurologically prepared for hard efforts. This is where harder efforts in a warm-up come into play. A few light sprints or harder aerobic efforts prepare your body for longer or more intense work than aerobic riding alone.
Matching Your Warm-up to Your Effort
When you're getting ready for a high intensity session, be sure to include more intense efforts in your warm-up. Hard aerobic efforts prepare your body for hard aerobic work. Anaerobic efforts prime those energy pathways. Sprints or activation exercises can help prime the nervous system for engaging more motor units for high power efforts… If you've ever done a high intensity workout and felt like your first one or two efforts weren't that great, but then you started to feel better throughout the workout, that's often the sign of an inadequate warmup. Sometimes adding a few short threshold or sprint efforts can bridge the gap so that you’re ready to go hard at the start of the session.
Nutrition
Typically, during a warm-up, it can be really useful to have a bottle of mix with you so that you can stay hydrated and get some carbohydrate while you're getting ready for your effort. Then during your workout or race, you'll want to keep fueling and hydrating accordingly. Depending on the circumstances, you might top off your bottles before you start your race, or if you're doing a time trial you might start with just a half a bottle of mix so that you're not carrying extra weight. Again, plan for the needs of the session, taking into account duration, intensity, weather, etc.… Just be sure that you're not putting in a lot of physical effort without taking care of your body at the same time with good hydration and energy availability.
The Mental Side
As much as it might be appealing to have a simple formulaic recipe that anyone can follow, you should always pay attention to how you feel and your past experience. Make sure that what you're doing is enough for the session. Also, do what you think will give you the most confidence going into your session. Just because somebody else does something in their warm up or someone suggests a certain warm-up protocol, if you feel like you need to adjust a little, then feel free to do what gives you the physical confidence for the session…. If you feel like you want to slowly ramp up and then hold a steady threshold effort for a few minutes, then do it. If you feel like you really need to do a few pretty maximal sprints before your race start, go for it.
At the same time, pay attention to what you feel works well for you in your hard training sessions and races. Always be looking for any opportunities to learn what you might adjust, so that you can get things more dialed for yourself in the future. Pay attention to how you're feeling, and feel free to follow your instincts about how to adjust on any given day based on how you're feeling.
Lastly, one common concern that people seem to have is that if they do too much during their warm-up that they might be tired for their workout or race. This is a totally normal concern to have. At the same time, if you think back to all of the many hard workouts and races that you've done, clearly you can warm up for 20 or 30 minutes or potentially much longer and then do a great interval session. Or, you may be racing and finish feeling strong at the end after you've already been going hard for quite a while. So don't be afraid to do a thorough warm up before getting ready for a peak effort. More isn't necessarily better, but just make sure your warmup is enough for the level of performance you're trying to achieve.
Warm-up Protocols
For easy endurance rides (Zone 1-2):
No structured warm-up needed
Simply start easy and gradually ease into your riding pace over the first 10-15 minutes
For tempo or threshold workouts:
20-30 minutes steady aerobic riding
Start slow, ease into a conversational pace
Feel warm and loose, breaking a sweat
For threshold intervals: Include 3-5 minutes of tempo before your first interval, or start your first interval with tempo before ramping to full threshold intensity
For high-intensity workouts (VO2 max, anaerobic) or races starting hard:
Everything from tempo/threshold, plus:
3-5 minutes of tempo and/or threshold riding
1-2 short VO2 efforts (30-60 seconds)
2-3 short accelerations (10-20 seconds)
For time trials:
Everything from high-intensity, plus:
1-2 additional VO2 efforts (30-60s) with full recovery between
1-2 more accelerations on the road just before starting
Special Considerations
Warm/Cold Weather: You'll warm up faster in warm conditions. Cold weather requires significantly more time. Dress accordingly—overheating or inadequate leg warmth both compromise performance.
Trainer vs. Road: Without wind-cooling and with continuous pedaling, trainer warm-ups generally take less time (unless it's very warm outside). Trainers offer control over volume and intensity without road variables. For most events, you can get in a very thorough warm-up on the trainer in 20-25m that should get you ready for almost any event. If it's cold out and you're on the road, then you might want to allow more time, just in case you need it. And always dress accordingly.
Caffeine: Many athletes warm up more quickly with caffeine due to nervous system stimulation and increased epinephrine/adrenaline.
Rest Days: After a day or two off, warming up sometimes takes longer. Monitor your sensations.
Previous Day's Training: A moderate workout yesterday (easy 2-hour ride with some threshold or VO2) means you'll warm up quickly today. Fresh with some hard work yesterday—you'll likely be ready. A big or hard ride yesterday may bring stiffness or lethargy, requiring more warm-up time. After a hard, long ride, expect an hour or two to feel normal.
Match the level of your warm up to the level of effort you plan to do. Stay hydrated and well fueled going into any peak effort. Don't be afraid to do a thorough warm up. Listen to your body and do what you feel is enough. Aim for enough; don’t cut your warm-up short and don’t assume that more is better.
