Why Warm Up

Warm - ups are an important ingredient to lifelong fitness.

Proper warm – ups prior to exercising helps promote a healthily lifestyle, and should be a part of everyone’s normal routine.

Why proper warm - ups? Because poor or nonexistent warm – ups can be detrimental to your health and lead to injuries. Taking the time to warm - up before going for a run, hitting the field or the weights help prevent injuries and actually boosts performance. 

What is considered a “warm - up”? A warm - up exercise can be as simple as performing the activity you are getting ready to engage in at low level of intensity. This could consist of fast walk before a run, a few light reps before working out, or using a cardio machine at a low setting. To gain the greatest benefit of warming - up, whatever warm - up activity you choose should at least mimic the activity you are going to perform.

What physically happens during a warm - up is an increased blood flow to the major muscle groups, which in turn helps the muscles to become more elastic. In other words your muscles are more pliable, which greatly reduces the chance of a pulled or strained muscle. This is the very reason why you shouldn’t stretch prior to an activity without warming – up first; your muscles are not pliable enough and may not respond properly. Conversely, after an activity is when your muscles need stretching the most. After an activity is when the muscles will be warmed-up enough to be safely stretched. For additional information regarding muscle stretching, please see our Muscle Stretching page. 

Warm – ups can also increase performance.

A thorough 10 minute warm - up can increase a power-lifter’s one time lift by 10-20% depending on the size and amount of muscles groups involved. This also directly correlates to improving simple things like the number of sit-ups and push-ups you can do, and it can also help increase your run time.

So, why doesn’t everyone warm – up their muscles prior to exercising? Many people do not

realize the benefits of warming – up, while others normally use the “don’t have time” excuse for skipping warm - ups.

The next time you workout take the time to warm - up and see for yourself the difference it can make. Besides the immediate benefits you will experience, you are also helping to ensure your body will be able to sustain a lifetime of physical fitness – a major goal for us here at SkatingFitness.com.

Thank you Troy Saunders for your insightful contributions to this practical fitness tip!