Brie Larson has long been one of our fitness inspirations for the way she constantly and creatively challenges her body. The “Captain Marvel” star’s push-up variations, pull-up holds, and superhero ab workouts are not for the faint of heart. But even when she pushes her body to the extreme, Larson keeps her priorities straight: she’s always stressing the importance of warmup, recovery, and keeping her body healthy to avoid injury.
That’s why we were intrigued to watch Larson’s newest YouTube video, which is an explainer of how she “assesses” her body and fitness level before a workout. It doubles as a way to activate, warm up, and stretch her muscles, too. “Avoiding injury is everything, because you don’t get off course,” Larson says of her pre-workout routine. That means taking the time to warm up and cool down effectively: “If you can just take 5 minutes at the end of every workout to [stretch out], it can make a world of difference.”
So what goes into Larson’s assessment-slash-activation session? She starts with a modified yoga flow, beginning with a standing toe touch before crawling out into a plank position. From there, she flows into Upward-Facing Dog and Downward-Facing Dog positions, then stretches out her hips with a Half-Pigeon and Runner’s Lunge on each leg. Larson continued through the rest of the warmup with bodyweight strength moves, like:
Larson uses this as a way to assess her fitness and activate her muscles before a workout, so it can definitely serve as a warmup before your fitness routine. The stretches can also double as a cooldown.
Just before signing off, Larson took a moment to explain why workouts are so important to her, and why she dedicates this time to herself and taking care of her body. “There’s a lot going on in the world, a lot of things to care about. A lot of things to love, people to love, initiatives to love,” she explained. “But I’ve found that when I take a little bit of time for myself and when I get grounded in my body, I’m better at all of those things. I meet every moment better.”
Check out Larson’s full routine above.