You might show up late to class or barely even have enough time to squeeze in a workout. Who has time for a warm up? It’s not that important, right? Wrong! So, don’t go skipping out on those 10 important minutes. Skip this step and you will not only have a harder time during your workout but also put yourself more at risk to injuries. Well, what is a warm up and why should you do it? Keep reading to find out all the answers to your questions.
A warm up is generally characterized by a short 5-20 minute bout of low-intensity exercise. If you plan on an intense workout, recovering from an injury, or are an older adult make sure your warm up routine is longer in duration.
Prevent Injuries
Acute injuries such as muscle tears happen more frequently when the muscles are cold. Slowly increasing the blood flow to your muscles will prevent them from overstretching. Since warming up helps the body increase its range of motion, your joints and muscles will move more smoothly.
Maximize Your Performance
Because of this increase in blood flow, the muscles will actually warm up in temperature.This will cause the muscles to contract with greater force, increasing your strength and speed. Warming up increases the amount of oxygen and nutrients to your muscles, which will prevent you from getting winded early on in your workout.
Get Your Head In The Game
Besides the physical preparation, developing a warm up routine can get your mind ready for the workout. You most likely have been stuck behind a desk all day, which means that your mind is still stuck. Your head might be thinking about deadlines, kids, and everything but working out. In order to get focused on the task ahead, perform a 10-15 minute warm up before every workout. Warming up also prepares you for the times during your workout when you want to quit.
Ways To Warm Up
The type of warm up you do will depend on which physical activity you are going to perform. Obviously, you wouldn’t need to do many squats for your warm up if you were going to be training your shoulders that day. The point of a warm up is to get your body prepared for the exercise you are going to be doing.
For example, on leg day I like to do a dynamic lower body warm up that includes activating my glutes, hammies, and quads. Days when I do my dreaded cardio, I like to hop on the treadmill and walk at a fast pace on the highest incline for a few minutes. Jumping rope is also a great way to elevate that heart rate and get your body ready for work. I’ve also included a general 10 minute warm up that you can do before any workout!
Find out what you are doing wrong after your workout and what you can do to fix them here!
What is your favorite way to warm up?
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Peace & Love,
Heather