El calentamiento articular prepara el juego de pies.

It is a noun phrase meaning a joint warm-up or warm-up for the joints.

• calentamiento = warm-up
• articular = related to the joints

So articular here does not mean articulate in the speaking sense. It means joint-related, from articulación = joint.

In Spanish, adjectives often come after the noun, especially when they classify the noun in a more technical or factual way.

So:

• calentamiento articular = a warm-up of the joint type

This sounds natural in Spanish. Putting the adjective after the noun is especially common in sports, medical, and fitness language.

Here, articular is an adjective.

That matters because articular can also exist as a verb in Spanish, meaning things like to articulate, to connect, or to organize/form.

In this sentence, though, it is clearly an adjective describing calentamiento.

It changes for number, but not for masculine/feminine in the singular.

Examples:

• calentamiento articular = masculine singular
• movilidad articular = feminine singular
• ejercicios articulares = plural

So in your sentence, it stays articular because calentamiento is singular.

Because the subject is singular:

• El calentamiento articular = the joint warm-up

That whole phrase is one singular subject, so the verb must also be singular:

• prepara = it prepares

If the subject were plural, then the verb would be plural too:

• Los calentamientos articulares preparan...

Spanish uses definite articles more often than English does.

Here:

• El calentamiento articular = the subject
• el juego de pies = the direct object

Even when English might say something more general like joint warm-up prepares footwork, Spanish normally sounds more natural with the articles:

• El calentamiento articular prepara el juego de pies.

So this is standard Spanish usage, not something unusual.

It is a set expression meaning footwork.

Literally, the words are something like:

• juego = game / play / movement pattern
• de pies = of feet

But in sports and movement contexts, juego de pies is the natural expression for footwork. So you should learn it as a chunk.

Because juego de pies is an established expression.

In Spanish, many fixed phrases with de do not use an article after de. Here, pies is part of the expression itself.

• natural: el juego de pies
• less natural here: el juego de los pies

The version with los sounds more literal and less like the standard sports term.

Yes, you could, and it would be understood.

Compare:

• calentamiento articular = more compact, technical, and common in fitness/sports language
• calentamiento de las articulaciones = more explicit, a bit longer, and less concise

Both are correct, but calentamiento articular sounds more natural in this kind of context.

Yes. It follows the basic Spanish pattern:

• Subject + verb + direct object

So:

• El calentamiento articular = subject
• prepara = verb
• el juego de pies = direct object

This is the most straightforward and neutral way to say it.

Because el juego de pies is a thing, not a person.

Spanish uses the personal a mainly with specific human direct objects, and sometimes animals treated like persons. Here the object is footwork, so no a is used.

That is why you get:

• prepara el juego de pies

not

• prepara al juego de pies

Pies is one syllable: pyes.

A simple guide:

• pies ≈ pyes
• juego de pies ≈ HWE-go de PYES

A learner mistake is sometimes to split it too much, but it is just one syllable.

Also, in Spain:

• j in juego is pronounced with a strong throaty sound
• all vowels stay clear and short

So the phrase sounds smooth and compact: el juego de pies.