How many times have you spent the first ten minutes of class leading a warm-up while your students simply copy your movements without even thinking about why they’re doing it? You’re doing all the work, and they’re just following along like robots.
Why It Works
Teaching your students an autonomous warm-up gives you a huge advantage when managing class time. It is also far better than the teacher leading the warm-up while students simply copy. If we want students to be authors of their own learning and reduce the teacher’s centrality, this is the right step.
With an autonomous warm-up in which a different student takes the lead each week, kinesthetic learning improves, autonomy and responsibility are fostered, and motivation increases.
How I Do It: An 8-Week Progression
Personally, I like to do the same warm-up with all students but change basic aspects such as duration, intensity, or add slightly more complex exercise variations. If you want to start applying this, here is an example of how I would organize it.
This eight-week progression is only a guide. Some groups will master it in five weeks, while others may need ten. Adjust it based on what you observe.
Week One
Let them do their own warm-up. Simply observe and take notes. Many exercises they already know from previous years can be useful, and it is an advantage if they already know how to do them.
Week Two
Demonstrate your warm-up proposal based on what you observed. Do not introduce all exercises at once, as they will forget them.
Week Three
Perform the full warm-up with all exercises.
Weeks Four and Five
Let a student lead the warm-up. Remind them of the parts they may have forgotten.
Weeks Six and Seven
Same as weeks four and five, but as they perform each exercise, have them mention which body parts they are using at each moment.
Week Eight
Let a student lead the warm-up and mention the body parts being warmed up during each exercise.
What Can Go Wrong
Remember, autonomous does not mean you do not need to pay attention. Always keep an eye on students to correct possible mistakes.
In one of my classes, during the first week when they were teaching me their warm-up, some did neck rotations too quickly, so I had to stop them immediately. Always stay attentive, especially at the beginning.
In another class, also during the first week, it was chaotic. Some of the students did push-ups for ten minutes straight, while others just stood around talking to each other. I learned that scaffolding is essential because you cannot go from zero to one hundred in one class.
Adjustments by Age and Time
For younger students aged five to nine, you might need more structure and shorter warm-ups. For older students aged ten and above, you can give them even more autonomy and let them design their own warm-up variations.
Adjust the duration of the warm-up to the class time you have. It is clear that the warm-up is a fundamental part, but if you only have thirty minutes of class, your warm-up has to be very quick.
Design Your Own
To design your own warm-up, I have created this interactive tool. You can easily create your own warm-up by choosing exercises for each body part and then print the resulting poster to give to your students so they can follow it if they have any doubts.
When students can warm up without you, they’re not just saving you time. They’re learning that movement is their responsibility. And that lesson stays with them long after they leave your class.
