Warm-up Exercises to Prevent Injury and Boost Performance

Many people ask ‘why warm up before exercising?’. Not warming up properly is something younger people can get away with for a while, but for adults a good warm up is vital to prevent injury. It can also boost performance and burns more energy, so warming up is as much about pushing yourself harder as preventing a torn muscle. There are three main parts to a good warm-up.

The first stage of a good warmup should be to ready your spine. The spine is part of the body that is both the most neglected and the most damaged. The spine is our main shock absorber, and therefore must be prepared. Three simple exercises help warm the back up and help improve alignment; shoulder rolling (forwards and backwards), stretching upwards with the hands interlocked while look uo through the gap between the forearms, and performing a standing spinal twist by bringing a knee across your body and holding it in place with the opposite hand.

Stage two of the warm up is the fire up the respiratory system. Quick breathing relseases more hormones, which consumes more carbohydrates and fat for eneregy. The best way to fire up the respiratory system is with some non-weight bearing exercise, performed at a medium to high intensity. A cross trainer (elliptical), exercise bike or tradmill are ideal ways.

The final stage is to warm up the muscles and stretch the fibres. Most people jump straight to this stage. Simple stretches suffice, such as calf stretches, touching toes. Groin stretches and hurdle stretches for the legs. Some squats and lunges help warm up the ankle, knee and hip joints. For the arms stretching the arms behind the back, then across the chest one at a time, then by raising the elbow upwards in front of you and gently pushing back. A quick wrist stretch and loosener (shake) is also advisable if you will be using your hands a lot (martial arts, racquet sports etc.).

A warm up does not add much time to your workout, and can boost you performance, give your more energy and help keep you in the gym by avoiding injury. Skipping your warm up is not recommended. Skipping is.

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