I'll be up front with you...this warm-up technique looks absolutely INSANE and if you're worried about people staring at you, you might want to pass on this... ;)

(side note, quit worrying so much about what other people think...you'll be a lot happier in life)

That being said, this is an EXCELLENT combo for warming up the shoulder complex, biceps, triceps and the upper body in general. As well, it's incredibly good for activating your nervous system, specifically the "cross-connections" between the two sides of your brain.

The development and activation of this cross-connection is what happens early in life with crawling and walking.

You're going to be performing 3 exercises in sequence with one arm while simultaneously performing the same (but opposing) movements with the OTHER arm.

The exercises are a dumbbell curl (for biceps), an Arnold Press (for shoulders) and a overhead dumbbell extension (for triceps).

You CAN do this exercise as an actual exercise with heavier weight, however I find it most useful to do as a warm-up because of the dynamic nature of the combination.

The first time you do this exercise, start LIGHT and go SLOW...it takes some practice and coordination to get good at it and speed it up.

Start with both dumbbells held by your sides.

Perform a curl with your right arm.

Do an Arnold Press to the top position. The movement is just a press starting from a curl position, rotating at the shoulder as you press up.

Bring that dumbbell down into a tricep extension. As you can see in the pic, I'm not worried about the elbow flaring out...this warm-up is not about stretch or tension on the muscles. The focus is one movement and coordination.

Now comes the fun part...performing the OPPOSING movement with the other arm as you come back through the sequence. This is what activates those cross-connections between the two sides of your brain.

Extend the right arm, coming to the top of the extension while doing a curl with the left arm.

Lower the right dumbbell while pressing the left dumbbell (they'll be passing in the middle here).

Now you're at the bottom of the Arnold Press with the right arm and the top of the Arnold Press with the left arm.

Lower the right dumbbell into the start position (bottom of the curl) and the left dumbbell down into the tricep extension.

Now repeat again with opposing movements.

Keep going in this fashion for about 30-60 seconds.

Again START SLOW the first time you do this one. The coordination is not easy to get right away but once you get into the flow, it'll really feel natural and you can speed it up.

A word of advice...once you've developed the skills for this one and are able to bump up the tempo, don't think about the movements. Just let them happen. Thinking about them will just get in your way.

This is a GREAT upper body warm-up, not only for getting blood flow into your shoulders and arms but to get your nervous engaged and ready for action.

Plus, it's kinda fun :).

I HIGHLY recommend you watch the video of this technique in action. Still pictures don't do it justice.

Enjoy!