5 Reasons It’s Important to Warm Up Before Your Exercise Routine
As enticing as it may sound to skip the warm-up when you are in a hurry, you need to understand how essential warm-up is for your exercise routine to work out in your favor. Warming up before an exercise serves many purposes which are crucial to a successful workout routine. From limiting the chances of an injury to maintaining a low heart rate to avoid fatigue to boosting the performance and enhancing oxygen delivery to muscles, we have brought you five reasons why warm-up is imperative for your workout routine.
1. Reduces the Chances of an Injury
Warming up session before the exercise routine increases the temperature of your body and preps your muscles and joints for the upcoming routine. The increase in body temperature results in increased blood flow to the muscles and loosens your joints. As a consequence, the exercise puts lesser stress on the joints as well as the tendons. While the warm muscles and joints execute the sudden movements effortlessly. Therefore warming up reduce the risk of any acute injuries and overuse injuries while you perform with greater power due to increased flexibility and elasticity of the tendons and muscles. Active warm up like toe touches and jogging in your place are more effective as compared to static stretching.
2. Enhances the Delivery of Oxygen to the Muscles
Warming up the muscles before the exercise preps the muscles for the upcoming workload by increasing the blood flow to them. When the core temperature of your body rises due to warm up, the hemoglobin is forced to release increased amounts of oxygen to the muscles. This equates to rapid and increased energy production via aerobic metabolism by the muscles. Some of the great benefits of the warm up include lung volume, better cardio as well as oxygen efficiency in the bloodstream along with the ability to re-train your breathing.
3. Improved Blood Circulation
Nutrients such as oxygen, amino acids, carbon dioxide, electrolytes, blood cells, and hormones are transported to the body through lymph and blood circulation. The circulatory system is responsible for this transportation. Hence a strong circulatory system equates to a nourished body which is well-equipped to fight the diseases. The warm up helps with improved circulation by making the oxygenated blood reach every cell of the body efficiently.
4. Prepares the Nervous System for Exercise
In the event of a vigorous warm-up, the core temperature of the body is bound to rise to speed up the processes including the nerve impulses which are responsible for causing muscle contraction. The warm up enhances the level of communication between the muscle fibers and nerves while preparing the muscles for the actual workout session. In other words, warm up before exercise helps to rev up your muscles and the nervous system.
5. Boosted Performance
Warm up session before the exercise helps to train the heart and mind to get prepared for the extra workload coming up. It helps to boost your performance by enhancing the flexibility of your joints and muscles along with strength and speed.
The warm up boosts the overall exercise performance in the following ways:
- Improved lung capacity.
- Enhanced oxygen efficiency.
- Boosted anaerobic threshold.
- Boosted physical and mental stamina.
- Amplified production of energy.
Ideal Way to Warm Up
Dynamic warm up followed by stretching is the best way to warm up before your exercise. We have brought you an ideal warm up routine:
- Foam Rolling:it is a self-massage technique that helps to release any tight spots in your muscles.
- Mobility drills or Strengthening: these exercises help you train for your range of motion around the joints.
- Stretching: this will help you be a fit flexible to be able to perform your exercises easily. Indulge in stretches pre and post workouts for best results.
It is also a good idea to design your warm up around your exercise routine and mimic some of its movements in your warm up session to prepare your muscles and joints.
In a nutshell, the warm up session before the actual workout helps prepare the mind as well as the body for the workload ahead. It also decreases the risk of an injury while making the joints and the muscles flexible and warmed up due to the increase in the core body temperature as well as the enhanced oxygen efficiency. The ideal routine for warm up includes a dynamic session followed by static stretching. Therefore, it is essential to indulge in warm up to prep yourself mentally and physically for the upcoming workload.
