Exercise - How To Warm Up
Whats the best and safest way to warm up before doing exercise
?
Strictly speaking the professional will have developed a specific set of arm up exercises for his profession, whether he or she is an athlete, tennis player, football player etc. Im writing from the perspective of carrying out a good set of generic warm up exercises, primarily for the jogger but they can be applied to most sports.
Stretches or your warm up routine, needs to be dynamic. Why? Well the clue is in the phrase. Warm up. Static stretches will NOT warm you up, you need to increase your heart rate and body temperature. Your warm up routine should include a range of exercises that you will perform during your fitness session.
You need to view the warm up session as essential. Its all too easy to put on some running shoes, close the front door, and start your jog. But if you dont want to get muscle injury or muscle stiffness, STOP!
So what are the benefits then? Well did you know that haemoglobin (your red blood cells), releases oxygen better when your muscles are warmer, there is an increase in blood flow, warmed muscles are a lot more supple and because your muscles are now warm, there is less viscous resistance and hence a greater economy of movement and less change of a muscle tearing.
Theres more....but isnt that enough to persuade you to warm up first. Your jogging times should improve, which means you could possibly run further, get even fitter and help with your overall weight versus level of fitness you are looking to attain.
One US based study, suggested a static warm up routine (as opposed to a dynamic one) could cause more harm than good. As your muscles will not have warmed up, they will not work as fast so may tear.
So what to do? Start with a very light jog to get your heart going that bit faster and to increase your body temperature. Somewhere between five and ten minutes is great.
Now you need to move on to dynamic stretches, which will reduce your muscle stiffness. There are a number of these that you can do. Its best to try a number of them out over a period to see which ones you prefer. But this period of stretching should be about 10-15 minutes. As your warm up progresses, the intensity of it should too. Easily said if you had someone blowing at whistle and shouting at you!
If you are a member of a gym already (but stay away from doing dynamic stretches) ask your gym which exercises to do prior to a jog. There are many names and variants of stretches. Youtube is probably a good place to watch a video.
Sumo Squats will warm up your groin, hamstring and lower back. Lunges (small lunge, walking lunge), will warm up the hamstrings and quadriceps. Windmills are good for the shoulders, upper back and neck. A spiderman crawl, the hips arms and hamstrings again. You are looking to warm up all the parts of your body. How many of each stretch should I do? Well about 10 of them, 3 times.
Completed your stretches? Great, finally you are ready for your jog or run? Good luck. If its going to be your first run, well talk more about that soon.
As with all exercise though, ensure you have consulted a physician first about your level of health before you start even for doing a warm up routine. You dont want any nasty surprises.
by: Lana Soko
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