A successful workout should always be preceded with an effective warm up. Skipping a warm up has a negative effect on exercise and can possibly lead to injury. A warm up only has to be 5-10 minutes to have a positive effect on a work out. Here are 5 reasons to have a warm up before your workout.
Improves muscle elasticity and Range of motion. Warming up increases your body temperature resulting in increased muscle elasticity. One way to warm up and improve your elasticity and range of motion is to mimic the movements done in the work out and do some easy stretching.
Promotes circulation in the body. Warming up dilates your blood vessels which improves blood flow, oxygen and fluid absorption and takes stress off the heart during a workout.
Keep yourself from hitting fatigue. Studies show that a warm up helps increase speed strength and intensity during a workout. Most athletes are able to run faster, lift heavier and work out longer if they warm up ahead of time.
Increased muscle temperature. Not only does this improve muscle elasticity, but the increase in muscle temperature helps muscles contract and relax more forcefully and quickly resulting in improved performance. It also helps the body cool efficiently and avoid overheating.
Mental preparation. Warming up also helps mentally. Doing a less intense version of some movements helps mentally prepare you. Slowly getting your body ready for exercise also helps avoid shock of starting an intense workout on cold muscles.
Warming up does not have to be a complex separate workout. An effective warm up can simply be some light blood-pumping cardio such as a short jog or jump rope, stretching and mimicking movements that will be performed during the workout such as lunges, pushups or lifts. Precede any workout with 5-10 minutes of a warm up depending on the intensity of the workout.
