I'm just getting into an intense period of practice before my January Stickrad Trio gig and am curious what people consider a good order for warm ups, as specific to the muscle groups we use playing the Stick.

The most obvious thing I've noticed is that I have to be careful not to go straight into practicing LH chord groups as this can put strain on my LH wrist. I've gotten better at not holding the position of the chord, even so, I've noticed that single note, or chromatic exercises are a good place to start my warm ups, as they seem to loosen up the muscles more readily.

What experiences do folk have in gently warming up the muscles for more intense practice and what exercises do you use to support this.

There's already a thread about your question:

viewtopic.php?t=6892#p51891

Enjoy

I'm going to say something that might not be obvious to us as Stick players:
Be sure you stretch your pecs (pectoralis muscles) on a regular basis.
I know it might seem like an unrelated thing to do, but trust me. When we play, we have the tendency to "curl inward" toward our instruments, and also, the pecs are used to hold our arms in position. Tightness and a build-up of scar tissue and junk in the pectoralis muscles can result in locking and pain in the area behind your neck and shoulder blades, and it can also lead to discomfort or pain down the arms.
Something else I do after I practice is to work on my flexor and extensor muscles in the forearms. I use my ulna bone in one forearm and run it down the muscles in the other forearm, mainly near the elbow, where their anchoring points are. (These muscles are the ones responsible for motion in our hands & fingers.) I also use my elbow to work on a specific muscle at the base of my left thumb (it regularly has a soreness issue after a half hour to 45 minutes of playing as it tries to stay under the neck bevel.)
I'll come back and attach some pictures when I get another moment.

Rad-ish (a reference to your hair of course),

Don't forget to support those left-hand chord shapes with a little hand-motion (as I know you usually do), and always let the chord shape guide the angle of your arm. Your technique is really coming a long way.

I find when I first put the instrument on, it feels like it's all about getting the fingers moving, but it's really all about getting the whole body warmed up.

go to youtube and check out Scott Sonnon's "INTUFLO" videos. his joint mobilization exercises and routines are incredible… Generally, when issues show up in elbows, wrists and hands, a majority of the time it is coming from the cervical spine. In my acupuncture practice, when someone comes in with these issues, I always look at the neck first. However, these joint mobilization exercises with address the neck, shoulders, elbows, wrists and hands as well as the thorax….always warm up before playing… also if you are eating a lot of wheat and sugar, they are responsible for inflammation response in the body.. Sugar is the worst! Tumeric, Pineapple are two go natural anti-inflammatories. Also, hydration is very important for connective tissues of tendons and ligaments. And as Greg said, check your posture.

As stated earlier, here are some images of the musculature that I work on after playing. This first series shows the extensor muscles.
These images come straight out of a book that I have called "A Trail Guide to the Body." It was recommended to me by my chiropractor - very fascinating. I don't own the copyright to these images, so this post and the next one might get deleted because of it, I understand.

The flexor muscles.
As with the extensors, just give them a good firm massage (but don't beat them up - no need to if you do this regularly).
Before I forget to mention it, I find that I do MUCH better (play much better and experience less pain) if I warm up using hand/arm motion as described by Greg.)

Very interesting! I'm finding some Yoga practices useful for optimising my stick journey; especially twisting the spine and twisting my arms in front of the chest to carefully stretch the shoulders and upper arm muscles. I've played many instruments and to me the Stick is the one that taxes the body the least. It's very ergonomic and seems to give energy back to the player when played without stress in a balanced position.

Great thread! I'm learning a lot from this. Thanks for posting…..

Someone mentioned the benefits of warming up your entire body before playing - I don't remember who wrote that, but I fully agree. Last year I started playing out lot as a street busker and I noticed a huge difference, both musical and regarding plain "physical staying power", on those days when I chose a spot to start playing that is located far away to let me walk for at least 30 minutes until I get there. This finding made such an impression on me that I pretty soon started to plan every day for starting out with working the most far away street corners and then slowly move from spot to spot back to my HQs.