Powerlifter Hailey Barragan in Two-Piece Workout Gear Shares Her "Warmup"

Meet Hailey Barragan, a powerlifter and fitness coach who empowers her Instagram followers with top-tier workout advice. Recently, Barragan unveiled her go-to warmup routines, capturing her followers’ attention with an invitation: “Steal my warmup 👇🏻1-2 rounds is all you need!” Her post demonstrates essential exercises like Quadruped Thoracic Rotation and HK Kb Bottoms Up Shoulder Press, promising an efficient start to any workout session. Hailey’s approach to fitness is straightforward yet powerful, focusing on effective movements that prepare the body for intensive strength training. Her passion is evident as she guides her audience through each exercise, ensuring they’re fully equipped to tackle their training sessions with vigor.

1. She Strength Trains

In her Instagram post, Barragan is seen doing strength training workouts. The Mayo Clinic states that these exercises have a lot of benefits. “Want to reduce body fat, increase lean muscle mass and burn calories more efficiently? Strength training to the rescue! Strength training is a key component of overall health and fitness for everyone. Lean muscle mass naturally diminishes with age. Your body fat percentage will increase over time if you don't do anything to replace the lean muscle you lose over time. Strength training can help you preserve and enhance your muscle mass at any age.”

2. She Stretches

Hailey Barragan/Instagram

Barragan is seen doing stretches in her Instagram video. Harvard Health states that stretching has a lot of benefits. “Stretching keeps the muscles flexible and healthy, and we need that flexibility to maintain a range of motion in the joints. Without it, the muscles shorten and become tight. Then, when you call on the muscles for activity, they are unable to extend all the way. That puts you at risk for joint pain, strains, and muscle damage.”

3. She Builds Quad Muscles

Barragan makes sure to build and work her quad muscles. She shared her secrets in this Instagram video, and captioned it, “Eat enough food to grow, get a good amount of squat volume in, add in some leg extensions, a unilateral squat/lunge movement, train with enough intensity, and do it long enough to see the results 🙃Happy lifting!!”

4. She’s Inspired By Others

Barragan is inspired by the women she works with. After a workout session, she shared these highlights on Instagram. Barragan captioned the post, “There is nothing cooler than seeing women take up space in the weight room getting stronger and more confident. 😍😍Here are some highlights from our strength block that we just wrapped up! @ktdabrowski and I are so dang proud of this team. It’s been so inspiring to see this community grow and to watch so many amazing women take charge of their fitness journeys and show up for themselves. And they are getting so strong! This is just the beginning! 🥂”

5. She Likes Salmon

Barragan makes sure to eat a healthy diet. She shared some of her favorite recipes in this Instagram post. Barragan captioned it, “These thighs are NOT going to grow themselves 😤” In one photo, she is seen enjoying an air fried salmon bowl with veggies like carrots and cucumbers.

Jessica Buettner is a very successful powerlifter. She is known for winning the IPF World Championships twice. Buettner is recovering from a back injury, and is sharing her recovery process on Instagram. In a video, she is seen doing some weightlifting exercises. Buettner captioned the post, “Training recap 🤡😂 tweaked my back about 3 weeks ago, nothing serious but I’m annoyed at myself for doing it nonetheless because once it seizes up I work long hours standing and it is hard to get back to normal. An ongoing problem for me a couple times a year for the past several years. Anyways, @miketuchscherer has put less specific movements in my program to help me recover and also in the last couple weeks reintroduced squats and deadlifts using the @reactivetrainingsystems framework for doing that and so far it’s been working very well. I also got some advice and adjusted how I stand at work and it’s helping too.”

1. She Lifts Weights

Buettner lifts weights to keep herself in shape. ACE Fitness states that weightlifting has a lot of benefits. “Using heavy weights increases intramuscular coordination, the number of type II motor units and the amount of muscle fibers engaged within a specific muscle. Have you ever felt your muscles shaking while lifting heavy weights? This is because you are recruiting and activating the larger type II muscle fibers, which are only stimulated to work when a muscle is challenged with heavy resistance or working to fatigue.”

2. She Deadlifts

Buettner likes to do deadlifts to keep herself in shape. She is seen doing them in this training video on her Instagram. ACE Fitness states that deadlifts have a lot of benefits. “When done correctly, the RDL is an effective exercise that helps strengthen both the core and the lower body with one move. Unlike the traditional barbell deadlift and other quad-dominant exercises such as leg presses, which place significant loads on the anterior portion of the knees, the RDL focuses most of the physical work on the muscles responsible for extending the hip and the knee from the posterior.”

3. She Does Squats

Buettner also likes to do squats to stay in shape. She shared this video on Instagram of herself doing them. Buettner captioned the post, “I think this is a rep PR on squats but I’m not sure - either way I’m super happy with the way it moved! Queues I still focus on almost every time I squat: -keeping even foot pressure - keeping the bar secure on my upper back. Bracing comes pretty naturally as I warm up, and I do think about things like improving the speed of my descent, and depth. Anyways, happy lifting everyone!”

4. She Hikes

Buettner doesn’t just workout in the gym. She also likes to spend time outside. One thing she likes to do is to go for hikes. Buettner shared this set of photos on Instagram of herself hiking in Malta. She captioned the post, “An amazing day in Malta 📍trained, saw some ancient ruins, a cathedral and some amazing sights. They introduced a one day break in the competition schedule at IPF worlds this year and I’m a big fan.”

5. She Doesn’t Focus On Being Perfect

Buettner doesn’t focus on being perfect, especially on social media. She talked about this in the caption of this Instagram post. “A quick tip to make you feel better if you’re filming yourself in a brightly lit gym. Most people probably know this trick for giving your videos dark Batman vibes, but at any rate remember social media is mostly an illusion and even people like me who don’t edit/photoshop photos still do things like this. Little things that really overemphasize a physique. Anyways have a good day everyone 💪”

CrossFit athlete Bethany (Flores) Shadburne works hard to maintain her health and overall strength. “Try this barbell warm up out for shoulder to overhead movements! Stole this from the one and only @coachrandyf2 . And then some strict press and push press work in the last couple of slides 🙌🏽I usually do 2 sets of the warm up with just the barbell, 3-5 reps of each movement,” she said on Instagram while working out. Here’s what she does to stay feeling and looking so fit.

1. She focuses on her shoulders

She builds up to her shoulder workout. “Warm-up for shoulder to over head movements! Side plank lateral raise. Scap push up. Single arm plank hold. Scap pull ups. Overhead carry,” she said on a series of videos on Instagram. According to Harvard Health, “building strength, stretching, and improving posture will improve shoulder health and keep you in action. Your shoulders are a crucial part of your mobility and independence. You need them to be healthy and pain-free so you can drive a car, lift groceries, do housework, or pick up a child.”

2. She works her glutes

While working out with weights, she posted one of her favorite glute workouts with a barbell. “Landmine RDLs from the other day! These have become one of my favorite accessory exercises these days 🤪 They get my glutes feeling spicy,” she said on Instagram.

3. She has a routine

She thrives on having a routine. “The face you make because you are a homebody and love your routines. 🙋🏽‍♀️ anybody else?! Traveling is awesome and such a privilege but nothing beats being home and being in my routines! One of my favorites of course is my morning routine where I make my own cup of coffee ☕️ while wearing my toes spacers while walking on my rock mat,” she said on Instagram.

4. She warms up

She warms up her body for training. “A general warm-up flow 🤸🏽 This is something I pretty much do daily before any training day. Things have changed and morphed over time and I’m sure they will in the near and far future but this is what I’m currently doing. Some of it may make sense, some of it may leave you scratching your head. But these have helped put my back into a position to where I can live and lift. Goal with some of the glute specific exercises is get on the left side because most people, including me, stand more on the right side which can cause irritation within the back because we are twisted,” she said on Instagram.

5. She puts in the work

She posted videos of her doing a series of workouts, putting in the work needed to be successful. “Successory work 💪🏽 Split stance good morning x10 each. Bodyweight back elevated hip thrust x20. Weighted knee raises x15, last set straight into max set bodyweight. Try it out! 🤪,” she said on Instagram.