No one would dare dispute the need for exercise to keep the heart beating at a solid, steady rate and to keep those extra pounds from setting up camp on or around the waistline. Working out with a balance of cardio, weight training, and stretching is essential to staying healthy. But that’s not all you need.
Warming up before working out is essential to keep from injuring your muscles and joints. Think about it. Before you gun your car engine to get on the highway, you let your car warm up first because you know that not doing so might cause it to stall. When you go to the doctor, you appreciate it when she warms up the stethoscope before touching it to your bare chest, making you twitch.
The same goes for your body. You don’t want to put stress on cold muscles, or they’ll rebel and make you want to head straight for the armchair. You need to spend some time warming up before you hit your fitness routine at full throttle. It doesn’t take long, so there is no excuse to avoid it.
The Boot Camp Fitness Canada staff fitness experts recommend designing your warm-up to suit your specific exercise. For example, if you take a brisk walk, warm your muscles by starting out walking slowly. If you are a swimmer, start out with a leisurely glide through the water before you speed up. You want to gradually increase the blood flow that brings a steady supply of oxygen to the muscles you’ll be working.
The American Council on Exercise states that warming up helps your body bum more calories by raising your body temperature before you begin the cardio segment of your routine. It also helps provide more control of your muscles, allows your body to adjust to the exercise, and enables you to work out for longer periods of time.
ACE also advises adding stretches to the warm-up. Start by doing a low-level exercise to heat up the muscles. Once they have reached an elevated temperature after a couple of minutes, do some stretches to keep your muscles malleable. This will help prevent injury that can incapacitate you for weeks afterward and undermine your desire to get fit.
Staying fit shouldn’t cost a fortune, and that goes for warming up as well. You can walk in place, do jumping jacks, or jump rope if you have limited space. Start out with smaller movements and gradually increase them as the muscles become more flexible. Get out, warm up and start enjoy every part of it.
