Principles of Fitness: Warm-Up

by | May 27, 2021 | Fitness

Pre Warm-Up

  • Make sure you are properly hydrated before you train.  Dehydration makes muscles and tendons less elastic, which leads to injury.  Properly hydrating before working out is an important step for preventing injury and improving performance.  If your pee is yellow, drink water until it is clear.
  • Bring water and a towel to your workout

Warm-Up Goals

  • Elevate heart rate
  • Gradually put joints through full ranges of motion (increasing range of motion little by little)
  • Activate blood flow to all muscle groups
  • Break a sweat

Warm-Up Tips

  • Take at least 10-15 minutes to warm up at the beginning of each training session.
    • Take 20 or 30 minutes, if necessary. Get a good warm-up. Failing to warm up thoroughly is often the cause of injury. Do extra reps and take extra time if you need to.
  • Warm up longer when it’s cold or when your body is cold.
    • Warm up tight muscles longer. Stretch muscles that feel tight during warmups or during training.
  • Spend extra time stretching and warming up sore areas.
    • Failing to adequately warm up sore areas can lead to injury. Usually, activating blood flow to the tight area will help it loosen up. Start with simple movements and gentle stretches.
  • Incorporate cardio into your warm-up (5 or 10-minute jog, shadowboxing, jump rope)
  • A proper warm-up is one of the major keys to avoiding injury.

Warm-Up Steps

  1. Roll out tight areas with a foam roll or lacrosse ball
  2. Lightly stretch any area that’s particularly tight
  3. Dynamic Warm Up
    1. Start each exercise slowly, with smaller movements.
      • Increase speed and range of motion gradually as reps increase.
      • By the last rep, you should be going through the full range of motion without pain.
    2. Neck
      1. Tilt head side to side (12x each side)
      2. Tilt head forwards and backwards (12x each side)
      3. Head circles (12x right, 12x left)
    3. Shoulders
      1. Shoulder shrugs (12x forwards, 12x backwards)
      2. Arm circles (12x forwards, 12x backwards)
      3. Arm swings (12x forwards, 12x backwards)
    4. Core
      1. Trunk twists (12x each side)
      2. Standing side bends (12x each side)
      3. Hip circles (12x each side)
    5. Legs
      1. Knee circles (12x right, 12x left)
      2. Ankle circles (12x right, 12x left for each ankle)
      3. Roll out bottom of feet with lacrosse ball
      4. Squats (12x)

More Warm Up Exercises

These are more basic movements you can use to warm up.

  • 5 way squat
    1. Deep squat (6-12)
    2. Side squat (6-12 each side)
    3. Lunge (6-12 each side)
    4. Rev. lunge (6-12 each side)
    5. Step behind lunge (6-12 each side)
  • Jumping jacks (30 reps)
  • Pushup position (use modified pushup position [on knees] if pushup position is too difficult)
    1. Shoulder touches (15 each side)
    2. Twists (6-12 each side)
    3. Pushups (6-10)
    4. Burpees (6-12)

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