Before You Sweat Read This

It’s so easy to skip the warm up before getting your session in at the gym. It’s especially easy to skip if you are tight on time. By just taking a few minutes before you start really going at it you reduce your risk of injury and prepare your body for stretching. Think about your muscles like Taffy. If you were to try and stretch cold taffy it wouldn’t stretch it would just snap. Taffy needs to be warmed up before the candy man tries to create individual pieces of candy. Softball, basketball, soccer, etc. EVERY sport requires players to warm up for the game. Warming up safely helps prepare the body for the increased demands on the body during exercise. Never is it OK just to jump on the treadmill and start running at full speed. Your body needs to prepare the heart for the activity and warming up helps to prevent a crazy increase in blood pressure.

Here are some benefits:

• Get into the zone for the upcoming exercise aka getting mentally prepared

• Boost the oxygen and nutrient delivery to your muscles so you don’t get out of breath too early or too easily

• Get the body Ready for stretching

• Increase your coordination

• Warming up reduces the potential for muscle and connective injuries and increases body temperature.

• Helps promote sweating and sweating is great! It reduces the amount of heat stored in the body, something your body spends a lot of energy doing.

• Warming up may actually make you less sore the next day!

What should a warm up entail?

• Your warm up should be 5-7 minutes long and should be done every single time you have an exercise session no matter if it’s cardio, strength training or stretching. You should be breathing a little harder than normal (but not as hard as the actual exercise) and have a light sweat.

• You should start gradually and work your way up to the intensity of the main workout. If you are going to have a long workout the warm up should be longer. Make sure all of your large muscles are ready. Ie. midsection, back, chest, shoulders, upper legs, calves, glutes

• The warm up can be a lower intensity version of the workout you are about to do, or it can be a completely different exercise. As long as it increases your heart rate and breathing, and involves the muscles you are about to use, it is considered a proper warm up.  For your warmup I would recommend some dynamic work. Basically that would be jumping jacks, leg swings (front-back, side to side). Some bodyweight squats as well all performed in a circuit and repeated 2-3 times.

Taking the time to warm up will ensure a great workout and will help you to become a sassy fit you!