Warm Up Routine Before Exercise

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Warming up before any form of weight loss exercise Before starting any exercise to lose weight you need to warm the body up thoroughly. There are three reasons for this: 1. To reduce the chance of the injury 2. To increase blood flow to the working muscles and boost activity of neuromuscular pathways allowing them to be fully prepared for exercise. 3. To enable your joints to move more freely and prepare them for any stressful impacts. A good warm up can help limit any discomfort or anxiety associated with long exercise sessions. It also enables the energy system to be “revved up” and “activated” to keep up with the pace of energy requirements.   A good 10 minute warm-up routine   Warm up with 10 minutes aerobic work. It’s usually best to start a warm-up session by performing the same exercise as the intended aerobic or cardio workout. For example, if you intend to jog for 20 minutes then walk for 3 minutes, walk briskly for a further 3 minutes, then do a few minutes very light jogging. During this initial warm up, breathing should be easy at first, and then gradually build up the intensity over the duration. Although keep in mind that this is a warm up so you shouldn’t be breathing hard after the 10 minutes. At the end of the first 10 minutes you should be breathing deeper but still fairly easy, with a feeling that your body temperature has risen slightly. Now it’s time to do some basic stretches for each major muscle group. I have given links to pages which show some general stretching routines that I have used in the past. These are just to give you some idea of how to warm up depending on the activity intended. I would recommend you always warm up under the guidance of a qualified instructor at the gym. He can guide you in using proper body alignment and posture to limit any chance of injury! Stretches should be done statically and not by bouncing to the end of the stretch (a ballistic stretch). A static stretch is where you extend the limb to a comfortable point and hold the position for 20 – 30 seconds. You should only stretch to a point where you can feel the muscle intended. You should never try to force a stretch or continue any stretch that begins to cause some pain. With 10 minutes of initial aerobic work, another 5-10 minutes of stretching and 10 minutes cooling down after a workout, it means there will be an 20-30 minutes added to any workout. If you don’t have the time you can cut the warm up and cool down phases by half. Although bear in mind that the better you are warmed up the more you’ll get from the workout. Also remember that injury prevention is better than injury recovery! A thorough warm up can put your mind and body in the right zone for you to have an effective workout!   Examples on how to warm up muscles before exercising: Slowly jog on the spot or walk for a few minutes. Rotate your joints slowly before performing the exercise Do some slow, static stretching of the muscles to be used during the exercise. Do the activity you intend to perform, but complete it slowly with a lower intensity level. Completing the warm-up examples above can help prepare the muscles for exercise in positive ways. They prepare the neuromuscular pathways that innervate the muscles. They help increase blood flow to the muscles and tendons. They increase the joint’s range of motion, and boost the speed of muscular contractions.     The cool down period after training is just as important as the warm up Hamstring stretch to lower injury when running Stretching the Chest & upper body for exercise Warming up the ankle joint ready for running Lower back stretch to limber up the spine Thigh stretching before running or walking Calf muscle stretch to warm up lower legs Cobra stretch for the stomach muscles Shoulder and Triceps stretch in one Stretching around the groin area Stretching the shoulder muscles The upper back lat stretch A stretch for the hip joint Stretch for the butt muscle The neck stretch

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