WHY IS A WARM UP SO IMPORTANT?

Warming up before training is essential. If you leave out a warm up, or don’t bother doing it properly, your muscles will be cold and then jumping into training will result in a sub optimal performance. Even worse you could injure yourself.

Warming up before training helps to improve performance and avoid injury
It’s a mental and physical process that prepares your body and mind for training

What does it do?

Increases your heart rate
Increases blood flow and oxygen to muscles
Warms muscles – these contract/relax/stretch more readily
Opens up neural pathways that allows nerve impulses travel more quickly

How?

Warm up slowly starting with small movements that mobilise your major joints
Then use a pulse raising exercise (e.g. jog) to get your blood flowing
Go through dynamic stretches that mimic the the movements you’ll be making
This means extending your muscle quite quickly under a light load e.g. swinging your ams, raising your legs

You can also warm up by wearing extra clothing or having a hot shower or bath – however this should not replace a warm up

It’s a bad idea to stretch statically before exercise

Experts agree that static stretching before exercise is not just counter productive but potentially harmful
In the last few years several studies have found static stretching before exercise makes you slower and weaker

Cool down

This is when static stretching is a good idea
Safely bring heart rate down
Aids venous return (blood returning to the heart) and prevents blood pooling in lower extremities
Encourages mental relaxation

Take away advice – always, always warm up!

Jumping in to a set of exercises without doing a full warm up will increase your risk of injury
A warm up activates your joints and muscles and mentally prepares you for the workout to come

So now you know why a warm up is so important you’re ready to incorporate it into all of your training. If you’d like more information on Trainwithjake sessions please click here