Warm Up...Why?

Before starting on my journey where I worked out with personal trainers, I will be honest that I rarely warmed up or cooled down.  I wanted to get my workout done as fast as possible!  I'm sure some of you are thinking the same way I once did.  I learned quickly why it is so important to warm up the muscles you will be working in your routine.  Injuries are more likely to occur when your warm up is skipped...why?  Your muscles are cold and you are putting a lot of stress on them.  Your muscles can also perform for a longer period of time when warmed up.  This will allow you to get the full benefit of your workout.  It's also important to warm up your cardiovascular system because it reduces the risk of stress being put on your heart.  Now that you know why you should warm up, what should be included in the warm up?


A warm up is actually two parts.  The first is a short low intensity cardio activity (about 5 minutes) that warms up your cardiovascular system.  Some examples are a walk, jog, eliptical, bike, side shuffles, or skips.  You can do just about anything that gets your heart pumping.

The second part was new to me when I started NPTI (National Personal Training Institute).  They are dynamic stretches.  These are different than your (static) stretches that you hold for a period of time.  You don't want to hold stretches before you work out because your muscles are cold.  They don't have that elasticity yet that you will have after they are worked out.  Save those types of stretches for after the workout.  Dynamic stretches prepare the muscles and joints in a more specific manner since the body is going through motions it will likely repeat in the workout.

Here are some examples of dynamic stretches for your upper body and then lower body.


  Upper Body

1. Large and Small Arm Circles


2. Seal Jumps (This can be lower body also.)

 
3. Neck Rotations
 
4. Arm Crossovers (Add a crossover jump to include lower body.)


 5. Elbow to Knee Cross Kicks (This can be lower body also.)


Lower Body
1. Quad Stretch Walk

2. Heel Walks
 
3.  Forward Lunch with Outside Lunge

 4. Over The Fence
 
5. Frog Jump Squats

Try some of these dynamic stretches the next time you work out to warm up your muscles and get everything you can out of your workout!  Your putting in the time, you deserve the results! 


My next blog will be the importance of cooling down and some examples of static stretches you can include in your cool down routine.

Let me know if you have any questions about these dynamic stretches or if you would like some other choices.