Meaning trap
warm up
prepare the body
To do gentle exercises before a sport or activity to get your body ready and help prevent injury.
Don't mix these meanings
Same phrase, different job.
To do gentle exercises before a sport or activity to get your body ready and help prevent injury.
Another meaning of 'warm up' is 'become friendlier'; compare the examples to keep the meanings separate.
Hear it in context
Notice where the phrase sounds natural.
- It's important to warm up before you go for a run.health
- Before my PE class, I always warm up to avoid getting hurt during exercise.IELTS speaking
Fix the pattern
Pattern: warm up (before/for something)
WrongI always warm up myself before running.
RightI always warm up before running.
Intransitive here — don't add 'myself'.
Patternwarm up (before/for something)
Use it right
Choose the version that sounds natural in speech.
'Warm up' is the everyday verb for limbering up; the formal version is textbook.
Build natural chunks
Words that usually travel with it.
warm up + beforebefore a gameproperlyyour musclesfirst
Don't confuse it
Not about increasing temperature in a room or food.
Related
- warm up (become friendlier) — Another meaning of 'warm up' is 'become friendlier'; compare the examples to keep the meanings separate.