Most consumer/prosumer cameras record in H.264 MP4 format.
Proxies allow you to speed your workflow up by feeding Premiere Pro (or any editing software for that matter) with a low-res easy to read codex, such as GoPro Cineform.

This Proxy Preset will allow you to quickly and easily generate proxies from your footage that are lightweight 540p files, so your editing process can be smooth and enjoyable!

Simply copy the two files into your Adobe Media Encoder Presets folder:

PC: C: / Users / / Documents / Adobe / Adobe Media Encoder / 13.0 (or latest version) / Presets

Mac:  Macintosh HD Users Documents Adobe Adobe Media Encoder 13.0 (or latest version) Presets

Then follow this tutorial below to learn how to create the proxies.

Cheers,

David