M'escalfo i m'entreno ara.

m' is the shortened form of em, the unstressed first-person singular pronoun.

Here it is reflexive, so it refers back to the subject I. That is why these forms mean things like:

• M'escalfo = I warm up / I get warmed up
• M'entreno = I train / I work out

English often does not show this reflexive idea as clearly, but Catalan often does.

Because the action is understood as being done to oneself.

Compare:

• Escalfo la sopa = I heat the soup
• M'escalfo = I warm myself up / I warm up

And:

• Entreno l'equip = I train the team
• M'entreno = I train myself / I work out

So the reflexive pronoun helps show that the speaker is both the doer and, in a sense, the receiver of the action.

Because em becomes m' before a vowel or silent h.

So:

• em preparo = I get ready
• m'escalfo = I warm up
• m'entreno = I train

This is just the normal Catalan contraction. In standard writing, m'escalfo is correct, not em escalfo.

That -o marks the first person singular present tense in standard Central Catalan for these regular -ar verbs.

So:

• jo m'escalfo
• jo m'entreno

This is the same pattern as:

• parlo = I speak
• treballo = I work
• estudio = I study

A learner may also see other regional forms, especially in Valencian, where the first person can be:

• m'escalfe
• m'entrene

So the sentence you have is perfectly normal, but it reflects the Central Standard pattern.

Because Catalan usually drops subject pronouns when the verb already makes the subject clear.

So:

• M'escalfo i m'entreno ara
• Jo m'escalfo i m'entreno ara

Both are possible, but the version without jo is more neutral and more common.

You would add jo mainly for emphasis, contrast, or clarity, for example:

• Jo m'escalfo ara, però ell no = I warm up now, but he doesn’t

Ara means now and tells you the action is happening at this moment.

In this sentence, it comes at the end:

• M'escalfo i m'entreno ara

That is fine, but Catalan is fairly flexible with adverbs like this. You could also say:

• Ara m'escalfo i m'entreno

Both are natural. Putting ara first often gives it a little more prominence, while putting it at the end can sound slightly more like an added time detail.

The present tense in Catalan can do both:

• talk about something happening now
• talk about something someone does regularly

That is why ara is useful here: it pushes the meaning toward right now.

Without ara, M'escalfo i m'entreno could also be understood more generally, like I warm up and train as part of a routine.

Yes, it is natural, especially in a sports or exercise context.

A speaker is saying that they are:

• warming up
• training / working out
• now

Depending on context, Catalan speakers might also use other expressions, such as faig escalfament for I do a warm-up, but the sentence you have is completely normal and grammatical.

You do not pronounce the apostrophe itself. It just shows that em has been shortened.

So you pronounce each form as one connected unit:

• m'escalfo
• m'entreno

There is no pause before the verb. The pronoun attaches closely to it, almost like a little prefix.