Warming up prior to your workout or activity helps prepare you both physically and mentally for physical exertion. It’s not a good idea to warm up incorrectly or to avoid doing it altogether.
Warming up raises body temperature and heart rate. This enables more oxygen-rich blood to circulate throughout your body, preparing the muscles, and “greasing” the joints to move through a full range of motion.
For workouts or sports events that last under one hour, a three- to five-minute warm-up is sufficient. You can do this by brisk walking, doing a light jog, or by using the “cardio” equipment in the gym (the exercise bike or treadmill).
For weight training workouts, after the short cardio warm-up, imitate the exercise you are about to do using little or no resistance, such as using only the bar without adding weights when doing the bench press. Or you can add dynamic movements, such as arm circles before you do the bench press. Static movements or stretches, held for 20 to 30 seconds, are best left for after the workout. Static stretching signals your muscles to relax, and you don’t want to encourage this before your workout!
To mimic the movement of your sport, without using resistance, do torso rotations and arm swings before tennis, golf or softball. Before playing basketball or tennis, shuffle quickly from side to side, or do lunges or high-knee marches to prepare your body for jumping and quick changes of direction.
The same methods for warming up should be applied to cardiovascular exercises and activities, as well. Before you begin that long bike ride, swim laps, or go for a run, start slowly and gradually ease into the activity.
Cyclists, runners, hikers and swimmers can warm up with torso rotations, lunges, high-knee marches or brisk walking. Swimmers can add shoulder or arm rotations.
When your activity or workout ends, finish off with static stretches. Do one or two stretches for each muscle your activity stressed: slowly ease into the stretch and hold without bouncing. Relax, then repeat once more before moving on to the next stretch.
Eve Lees is a Certified Nutrition Coach, a Health Writer and Speaker, and a former Personal Trainer with over 30 years experience in the health/fitness industry. www.artnews-healthnews.com
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Eve Lees has been active in the health & fitness industry since 1979. Currently, she is a Freelance Health Writer for several publication and speaks to business and private groups on various health topics.