To Warm Up Or Not, That Is The Question

No matter what type of exercise you do, you might be leaving out a very important step—the warmup. Warming up has been shown to be the primary way to prevent injury in athletic activity. It gets your muscles and joints loosened up ,and amps up your nervous system, so that your body is ready to perform.

What is the best way to warm up? Starting with 5-10 rolls on the foam roller on the body parts you will be exercising is a good beginning. Specificity is really the key. If you are going to do aerobic exercise, your warmup should look something like that activity, but at a lesser (50-75%) intensity. You can walk or jog slowly before running, or pedal easily for several minutes before a bike workout. If lifting weights, do several warmup sets at 50-75 percent of your planned load, in the same movement pattern that you are going to train. In general, the more intense the workout will be, the longer the warmup should be.

After warming up, your body should feel free to move, with a light sweat to show that your body temperature has increased. And you are then ready to go, no question about it!