The Warm Up is Crucial...

Stu McMillan explains why the warm-up should be treated as an integral part of the training session itself.

For years, Stu McMillan has consulted with professional teams on one area that often gets overlooked: The warm-up. Not because teams weren’t doing one. Because most were treating it as preparation for the session, instead of part of the session itself. “The warmup IS the something else.” That line cuts to the heart of this part of discussion from our latest Team Speed live call. Too often, warm-ups become generic routines disconnected from the actual demands of the day. A checklist. A stretch circuit. A few drills before the “real work” begins. But high-performing environments use the warm-up differently. They use it to rehearse movement strategies. To organize rhythm and posture. To expose athletes to the coordinative demands they’ll need later in the session. To solve problems early. To build specificity from the first minute on the field. “Figure out what you’re warming up to do and then figure out a way to do that throughout the entire warmup as well.” That means acceleration qualities show up in the warm-up if acceleration is the priority. Decision-making appears in the warm-up if the sport demands perception and reaction. Projection angles, stiffness strategies, foot contacts, timing, spacing, posture: all of it can begin there. The best coaches understand that every part of the session teaches. Inside Team Speed Coach Certification, these are the kinds of conversations we spend time on: How to connect intent, structure, and transfer across the entire training environment. The next cohort begins Fall 2026. Drop your details to be the first to hear when enrollment opens. 📍loom.ly/jQoR0AA