Short warmups are for children

advanced tricking warmup

Here are some things that will increase your time for warming up for tricking and training:

  • You gain muscle.

  • You grow an inch taller.

  • You tricked or trained yesterday.

  • Your skill level increases.

  • You age one year.


This list looks ridiculous because it's true.  Even if you do everything right , it will still take longer for you to warm up as years pass.  No matter what.  We could actually use beard growth as the measure of your warm up time.  The more facial hair you have as a male, the longer your warm up should be, because the beard is a measure of your age.

Jujimufu, beard, warming up

When I was 15 years old I didn't even warm up for tricking.  I just did it.  How?  Because I had never hurt myself tricking, and I was a 150 lb kid who "tried" novice, ugly looking tricks.

Jujimufu, first 540 kick

Now I'm a 230 lb tank "doing" intermediate level tricks.  It takes longer to get all this extra muscle tissue to get primed.

Jujimufu, ch.720 kick, tricking

I'm no longer just going in my backyard to try some reckless, shitty looking tricks.  Now I do them Clean and Powerful.  Clean and Powerful aren't "on demand" attributes, it takes time for the body to get ready for Clean and Powerful.  

I've been tricking for 13 years now, my body has all sorts of scar tissue.  Now it takes me 40 minutes on average before I can even throw my basic tricks.

These are the facts.  Short warm ups are for children and novice.  Don't be ashamed if you are noticing your warmup time increasing, and noticing that you are the last one to start throwing tricks in a group, it's a badge of honor.  Take your time, let the kids rush into it and get hurt.

We old dudes take our time, because we can, because we must, because we have beards.

Older Post Newer Post


  • Devin A. on

    Hi I’m 24 years old, with a strong 15 year background in tkd, if that matters. I feel fine doing tricks after even a 5 minute warmup of light cardio and kicks. Should I lengthen my time then? Maybe for the purpose of reducing injury instead of warming up my muscles? Lean, mostly flexible, fit body type.

  • kredit von dr klein on

      February 4, 2011HiYou need to take him to a school for downsyndrome children where he would be around other children like himself and you will be surprise of what he will be able to learn.

  • Aspen on

    Perfect area to do what you love to do. And speandirg out to the dinning area is a good use of that space too. I'm pretty sure we spend more creating than we spend eating. Sound like you have made it work for you.

  • Ben on

    “Because we have beards”
    perhaps the most perfect closing line I’ve ever read. Kudos.

  • Jujimufu on

    No it’s not. The appropriate warmup for lifting is to warmup more with the weights. For example, when I deadlift, I warm up with about 8 sets with 3 minutes rest between sets. The trick is to rest more between your warmup sets and do more. But you want to keep your warmup as specific as possible, cardio is a very poor warmup for lifting. I’d recommend always putting it AFTER, not BEFORE weight training.



Leave a comment