Grandiose statements of 180-degree life changes are a classic route to failure. Yeah, right, now it will all be different, just ‘cause you said so! “I am” is better than “I will,” and “I did” is even better…Even if it’s not a perfect fit or a comfortable place to be.

My Range of Motion warmup was featured as the pullout card in the Fall 2014 edition of FitLife BC. Hands down, the best acute injury prevention bang for your buck is a proper warmup, and this simple, non-impact routine is an excellent investment of 5 or so minutes. A range of motion warmup (ROM) not only prepares the body for any work to come, it brings focus to the movement task at hand. It dovetails nicely with rolling out first, then a temperature warmup afterwards as you move into the body of your main workout.

This version has photographs for a few of the moves that may be difficult to envision from reading the words alone.

Why not just call it a straight back? Well, because we do have some normal curvature in our spine. In contrast to a rounded-forward spine, or spinal flexion, neutral spine is the safest back position to avoid injury. This applies whether you’re sitting at a desk, bending over to pick up a dropped pencil, or lifting heavy weights.

We think of it as one of our strongest muscles, but in reality many of us have at least one underactive glute. In an ideal world, the core muscles will keep the spine neutral and the glutes will be the motor that drives a hip hinge. This is usually preferable to bending from the waist, which can stress the low back, or being overly dominant with the quads, which can stress the knees.

Our main stabilizer in the internal layer is the transverse abdominis (TVA). Its sideways fibres provide a belt or corset of support. When it’s working properly, the external layers of muscle can do their job properly and not get strained through compensation patterns. An underactive connection with your TVA often has a strong correlation to low back pain.