How to warm up before exercising

Author: Timko Ilya - master of the whole project and fitness trainer.
2011-12-15

Many beginners ignore a general warm-up before training, thereby condemning themselves to annoying injuries that occur "for no reason at all." I will try to briefly and simply explain why it is necessary.

If you are training seriously and expect any results from your workouts, sometimes it is necessary to push yourself to your limits. During training, your muscles, tendons, and joints will experience loads that they do not encounter in everyday life. Many of you warm up your car engine in winter before driving. The same applies here.

Warmed-up joints are better lubricated, which means less wear and tear on cartilage. Elastic tendons better resist tearing. A stretched muscle is capable of producing greater force.

Additionally, during warm-up, blood flow through the vessels increases, allowing the muscles to recover faster, thus preparing the body for the upcoming work.

A warm-up should last about 10 minutes and usually consists of three parts.

General Warm-Up

This can be jogging, working on cardiovascular machines, jumping rope, or performing basic exercises with a light barbell or gymnastics stick. The goal is to increase blood flow and metabolism. Your heart rate should rise to 130–160 beats per minute. Usually, 4–5 minutes is sufficient for this. Thus, you mobilize the main resources of the body for the upcoming physical work.

Joint Warm-Up

Typically, this involves rotational movements in the joints. Moreover, regardless of which part of the body you are training today and which you are not, you need to warm up your entire body. This is especially true for the spine, knees, and shoulder joints. You can warm up the spine well:

One or two sets of ab exercises can also be done. For example:

The joint warm-up is necessary so that they are better lubricated during training. The more fluid in the joint (lubricant), the less it wears out (the cartilage layer wears away). Joints will wear out regardless. Even if you have never trained in your life. So take care of your joints.

Stretching

Stretching exercises are performed. Without fanaticism and jerks. You need to stretch your arms and legs from all sides. This video (at the end of the article) shows several stretching exercises. These can be done both before and after training.

Stretching is done to make your joints more elastic. This means it will be more comfortable for you to perform exercises, and the risk of injury will decrease. Additionally, the strength of a muscle directly depends on its elasticity. In other words, a more elastic muscle can produce greater force (all else being equal).

Thus, by performing these simple manipulations, you will prepare yourself for the loads and be able to give it your all, minimizing the risk of injury. My years of observation tell me: the more professional an athlete is and the higher their skill level, the more thoroughly they warm up. As someone great once said: "It’s better to warm up and not train than to train without warming up."