The Proper Way to Warm Up For Your Workouts
Your muscle is a lot like a woman; your performance will suck if it isn't warmed up.
The whole point of warming up before an intense workout is to increase your core body temperature and blood flow, reduce muscle stiffness and get your muscles ready to contract and relax during the heavy lifting to follow.
Proper warm-up will reduce your chances of injuring yourself by lubricating your joints and encouraging them to be flexible.
Your muscles will get a good supply of oxygen and waste products will be properly managed when your body is being taxed during your workout. By warming up and stretching your muscles, you are setting yourself up for optimum performance in the weight room.
The whole point of warming up before an intense workout is to increase your core body temperature and blood flow, reduce muscle stiffness and get your muscles ready to contract and relax during the heavy lifting to follow.
Proper warm-up will reduce your chances of injuring yourself by lubricating your joints and encouraging them to be flexible.
Your muscles will get a good supply of oxygen and waste products will be properly managed when your body is being taxed during your workout. By warming up and stretching your muscles, you are setting yourself up for optimum performance in the weight room.
Cardio
As I’ve already mentioned, you need to increase your body
temperature and blood flow before you tackle the weights. Some light
cardiovascular activity for about 5 to 10 minutes will help you achieve
that.
A desk-bound or inactive body is rarely primed for weight training, which is why we need to engage it in light, but progressive, cardiovascular activity before the workout.
A desk-bound or inactive body is rarely primed for weight training, which is why we need to engage it in light, but progressive, cardiovascular activity before the workout.
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What you do to raise your body temperature is up to you.
The important thing is that it must bring a lot of body parts into
play.
Dynamic Stretching
After the cardio, you need to lessen the stiffness in your muscles and activate them for optimum performance.
In order to achieve this, you must stretch... actively.
Sitting or standing still while stretching a muscle won’t cut it. What I’m talking about here is stretching while in motion, and this is commonly known as dynamic stretching.
A dynamic stretch is a stretch that is done while moving through a particular range of motion. This type of stretch is useful at reducing muscle stiffness as it doesn’t only stretch your muscles, but also warms them up. Its ability to hit two birds with one stone is what makes it powerful:
1. It warms you up because there is movement involved. The movement will help maintain your increased your body temperature and get you ready for the workout.
2. It stretches your muscles as it encourages you to go through your joint’s full range of motion.
The key to a successful dynamic stretch lies in the following:
Dynamic stretching is even more important on cold winter days. Ask anyone who trains outdoors what a winter workout feels like. When it’s cold, your muscles will need extra time to get ready for a workout.
In order to achieve this, you must stretch... actively.
Sitting or standing still while stretching a muscle won’t cut it. What I’m talking about here is stretching while in motion, and this is commonly known as dynamic stretching.
A dynamic stretch is a stretch that is done while moving through a particular range of motion. This type of stretch is useful at reducing muscle stiffness as it doesn’t only stretch your muscles, but also warms them up. Its ability to hit two birds with one stone is what makes it powerful:
1. It warms you up because there is movement involved. The movement will help maintain your increased your body temperature and get you ready for the workout.
2. It stretches your muscles as it encourages you to go through your joint’s full range of motion.
The key to a successful dynamic stretch lies in the following:
- Stretching your entire body; it’s important to cover all major muscle groups. Just because you will be training your back, it doesn’t mean that you should not stretch your hamstrings. Your body is a system that consists of components that help each other. Don’t only worry about your target, worry about him and his entire crew.
- Using light or low intensity, but being gradually progressive without tiring yourself. You should never get tired during a warm-up.
- Actively moving the muscle through its full range of motion, in a controlled manner.
- Ending the warm-up by doing movements that are similar to your workout activity. In other words, the final movements must be geared towards the specific body parts that you are going to be working out or correspond to the muscular and flexibility requirements of the exercise you are preparing to do.
Dynamic stretching is even more important on cold winter days. Ask anyone who trains outdoors what a winter workout feels like. When it’s cold, your muscles will need extra time to get ready for a workout.
Once You Are Warmed-Up, Stay Warmed-Up
There is no point in warming up and then striking a 20 minute static conversation with someone, because you’d cool down during that 20 minute period.
When you are at the gym, do what you primarily came there to do. The other stuff can come later.
Another thing that might cool you down, before you are ready to, is standing around and waiting for other people to finish using the equipment.
Don’t just stand there… jump in and join them; alternate with them. You might end up teaching them a thing or two.
It’s important to recover in between your sets, but too long of a break can cool you down completely. Find the balance between having a fast workout and recovering enough in between your sets.
When you are at the gym, do what you primarily came there to do. The other stuff can come later.
Another thing that might cool you down, before you are ready to, is standing around and waiting for other people to finish using the equipment.
Don’t just stand there… jump in and join them; alternate with them. You might end up teaching them a thing or two.
It’s important to recover in between your sets, but too long of a break can cool you down completely. Find the balance between having a fast workout and recovering enough in between your sets.
Post-Training: Static Stretching
By Grendelkhan
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The all-so-famous static stretches can come in handy after a workout when you do them in a controlled manner, helping your muscles relax and cool down.
Static stretching is when you hold a stretch for a certain amount of time, say 30 seconds. And the optimum time for static stretching is when your muscles are tranquil and warm, and usually, this is after a workout or in between sets. Static stretching improves muscle flexibility as your muscles have a tendency to get stiff or shorten. The first rule of stretching is to never stretch a muscle that is not warm. If you perform static stretches first-thing prior to a workout, you are stretching a cold muscle and that has been shown to reduce muscle strength. And that’s why I recommend doing static stretches after a workout or in between sets, when the body is warmed up. |
The key to a successful static stretch lies in the following:
- Never be in a rush; you won’t reach super flexibility in one day, you have to stretch slowly but progressively towards complete extension. It’s a marathon, not a fast pursuit.
- Never bounce; a static stretch doesn’t entail any fast movements, bouncing may cause muscle tension and muscle tear. When you bounce, then it’s not longer a static stretch, but rather a ballistic stretch.
- Don’t forget to breathe; take some nice deep and natural breaths while tenderly stretching your muscles. Slowly working towards a relaxed state.
- Hold the stretch for a reasonable amount of time; personally I prefer to hold a stretch for at least 30 seconds. 30 to 60 seconds is considered reasonable.
- Feel some gentle stretch tension – not pain; pain usually means you are very close to injuring yourself or that the damage has already been done.
- Pay attention; don’t make the mistake of stretching half-heartedly.
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