A treinadora do ginásio insiste em fazer aquecimento antes de correr.

The (female) trainer at the gym insists on doing a warm-up before running.

Breakdown of A treinadora do ginásio insiste em fazer aquecimento antes de correr.

• de: of
• fazer: to do
• correr: to run
• antes: before
• o ginásio: the gym
• a treinadora: the trainer
• insistir em: to insist on
• o aquecimento: the warm‑up

Questions & Answers about A treinadora do ginásio insiste em fazer aquecimento antes de correr.

What does the A at the beginning of A treinadora mean, and why is it A and not O?

A is the feminine singular definite article in Portuguese, equivalent to “the” in English.

• A treinadora = the (female) coach / trainer
• O treinador = the (male) coach / trainer

The article must agree in gender and number with the noun:

• feminine singular: a treinadora
• masculine singular: o treinador
• feminine plural: as treinadoras
• masculine plural: os treinadores

What does treinadora mean exactly, and is it specifically feminine?

Yes, treinadora is the feminine form of treinador, meaning coach, trainer, or instructor, depending on the context.

• treinador – male coach/trainer
• treinadora – female coach/trainer

In European Portuguese, people do regularly switch to the feminine form when referring to a woman:

• a professora (female teacher) vs o professor
• a médica (female doctor) vs o médico
• a treinadora (female coach) vs o treinador

What does do ginásio mean, and why is it do and not just de?

Do is a contraction of de + o:

• de = of / from
• o = the (masculine singular)
• de + o → do

So do ginásio literally means “of the gym” and in context is usually understood as:

• the gym’s coach
• the coach from the gym
• the coach at the gym

Other common contractions:

• de + a → da (feminine: da escola – of the school)
• em + o → no (in the: no ginásio – in the gym)
• em + a → na (in the: na escola – in the school)

In European Portuguese, what does ginásio usually mean? Is it like “gym” in English?

In European Portuguese, ginásio commonly means gym / fitness club, the place where you go to exercise.

In Brazilian Portuguese, people normally say academia for “gym,” while ginásio often refers more to a sports hall / gymnasium building (for basketball etc.).

So in Portugal:

• ginásio ≈ gym / fitness centre

Why is it insiste em and not something like insiste a or just insiste?

The verb insistir normally takes the preposition em when followed by another verb in the infinitive:

• insistir em fazer = to insist on doing
• insistir em comer = to insist on eating

So:

• insiste em fazer aquecimento = (she) insists on doing a warm-up

Patterns with insistir:

• insistir em + infinitive
  Ela insiste em chegar cedo. – She insists on arriving early.
• insistir em que + [subjunctive]
  Ela insiste em que cheguemos cedo. – She insists that we arrive early.

Using insistir a in this sense would be incorrect; em is required.

What does fazer aquecimento literally mean, and why not just use a verb like aquecer?

Literally, fazer aquecimento means “to do warm‑up” / “to do warming up.”

• fazer = to do, to make
• aquecimento = warm‑up (the noun)

It’s an idiomatic and very common way to say “to warm up (physically, before exercise)”:

• fazer aquecimento antes do treino – to warm up before training
• Vamos fazer um pouco de aquecimento. – Let’s do a bit of warm‑up.

You can use the verb aquecer:

• Ela gosta de aquecer antes de correr. – She likes to warm up before running.
• Often reflexive: Ela gosta de aquecer‑se antes de correr.

But fazer aquecimento is a very natural, everyday expression in European Portuguese for the physical warm‑up routine.

Why is there no article in fazer aquecimento (why not fazer um aquecimento)?

With certain activity nouns, Portuguese often omits the article after fazer when talking about the activity in general:

• fazer aquecimento – to (do) warm‑up
• fazer exercício – to exercise / to do exercise
• fazer desporto – to play sports / to do sport
• fazer ginástica – to do gymnastics / exercise

You could say fazer um aquecimento, but that tends to sound more like “do a (specific) warm‑up session”. In your sentence, fazer aquecimento is the more natural, generic expression.

Why is it antes de correr and not just antes correr?

In Portuguese, when antes (“before”) is followed by a verb in the infinitive, you must include de:

• antes de + infinitive

Examples:

• antes de correr – before running
• antes de comer – before eating
• antes de sair – before leaving

Without de (antes correr) is incorrect in this structure.
You can also use a full clause:

• antes de correr
• antes de ela correr – before she runs
• antes de corrermos – before we run (inflected infinitive)
• antes de que ela corra – more formal/literary: before she runs

Who is understood to be doing the aquecimento and the correr in this sentence?

Grammatically, the default interpretation is that the subject of the main verb (“a treinadora”) is also the subject of the infinitives:

• A treinadora … insiste em fazer aquecimento antes de correr. → She (the coach) insists on warming up before running (herself).

Portuguese often leaves the subject of infinitives implicit when it’s the same as the main subject.

If you wanted to make it clear that other people are the ones running, you could use:

• … insiste em eles fazerem aquecimento antes de correrem. – she insists that they warm up before they run.
• or insiste em que eles façam aquecimento antes de correrem.

Why is the verb insiste in the present tense here, and what nuance does that give?

Insiste is the present indicative (3rd person singular of insistir):

• ela insiste – she insists

In Portuguese (as in English), the simple present can express habitual or repeated actions:

• A treinadora … insiste em fazer aquecimento…
  → The coach always / regularly insists on warming up before running.

So this doesn’t mean just “right now”; it describes what she typically or consistently does.