Beginner workouts: How to warm up right?

Exercising without a proper warm-up is like wearing your shoes without a good pair of socks. Sooner or later, you will start seeing blisters. It's important to dedicate three to five minutes to some static and dynamic stretches before starting your day's workout plan. Its purpose is to increase your heart rate, blood flow to the muscles you are working on that day and increase body temperature. It's often debated whether it is better to do more static or dynamic stretches before a workout, but more experts are of the opinion that there should be more functional, dynamic warm-up moves in your regimen rather than just static stretches, so that your muscles are loosened up enough. Here's a set of simple warm-up routines to add to your workout regimen before you start with it.

You can do two or three repetitions of each, with small breaks in between: 
1. Neck tilts and side to sides
To do neck tilts, tilt your head first towards your right shoulder, hold it for 3 seconds, and then tilt to the left side and repeat. Once done, and if needed, you can gently look side to side three to five times.

2. Cross-arm stretch
Stand up tall and extend your right arm straight across your chest. Hold it for 10 seconds. Now, extend the left arm in the same fashion and hold it. Switch arms, repeat. 

3. Hip rotation
Stand tall with your shoulders shoulder-width apart and bend your knees slightly. Keep your hands on your hips. Gently rotate your torso clockwise in smooth circles, leading with the chest, not your hips. After that, rotate anticlockwise. Do five or ten rotations and switch. 

4. Walking lunges
Stand tall, keep hips and width apart, and keep hands on hips or on the side. First, step forward with the right leg and lower into a lunge. The feet and knees should be pointing forward. The knee should not cross the toes and the other knee should not touch the ground. Keep the spine neutral, not flexed or extended. Push through the heel, come up and do the next leg. Hold the bottom pose for a second while on the move. Do around 10 on each side and do only slow, controlled repetitions. 

5. Walking butt kicks
Stand tall and keep arms relaxed. Step forward and kick your heel up to your glutes. Alternate legs and do 10 or 12 reps in a gentle, rhythmic fashion. 

6. Toy soldiers
Stand tall with arms extended in front of you at shoulder height. Kick up your right leg towards left hand, straight. Lower the leg, kick up the left leg up. Alternate the legs for 10 or 12 reps. 

7. Knee to chest
Stand tall and keep the feet at hip-width apart. Lift the right knee towards your chest. Hold it with both hands and pull it closer to chest, gently. The back should be straight. Hold it for two seconds and switch sides. Do around 10 reps.