A warm-up increases your core body temperature, which helps to make your muscles more pliable. You’ll get a fuller range of movement, have more control, perform better and be less likely to get an injury.
The best way to warm up is to perform dynamic stretches, such as big arm circles and marching knee lifts, for one to two minutes – especially crucial in cold weather when muscles are stiffer.
Never rush through warm-up and cool-down sessions
You might want to push straight to your desired speed while out running, or you think it’s ok to sneak into your workout class after warm-up or leave without doing the cool-down.
However, it’s important to warm up and cool down properly to prepare your muscles for the workout ahead, and to speed up recovery and avoid injury.
Stretching out before a workout is a must to starve off injury and prime your muscles for the workload ahead.
Dynamic moves, such as arm circles and leg swings loosen up any tight muscles. They also get your blood pumping and loosen your joints.
Factor in a carb snack like oatcakes and houmous and you’re well on your way to a winning workout.
When planning your warm up, makes sure you include specific movements that mimic the ones in your workout.
Think about the areas of the body that will be used and perform dynamic (moving) stretches that will take your muscles gently through a full range of motion.
This prepares your body for the movement patterns and also gives you time to improve them before adding further load.
You may think you’re saving time, but you’re actually just compromising the first 5 to 10 minutes of your workout.
Your body needs to warm up so that blood flow increases, the nervous system wakes up, and the body starts to use energy and oxygen more efficiently.
This helps every step feel less of a slog, and calorie burn kicks into high gear.
The best warm-up is to do your chosen exercise at a low intensity. Runners, for example, should walk, then jog.
Alternately, you can try ‘dynamic’ stretches, which are moves that take your body through the range of motions you’re about to do. For a runner, that can mean high knees, butt kicks, and forward, reverse, and side lunges.
Avoid static stretching, where you’re holding poses for several counts. That actually calms the system down and can impair performance.