Are you one of those fitness freaks who think warm-up is a time waster and hit the weights straight away? Well, warming up before an intense workout session is very important. A lot of people avoid warm-up exercises to save energy. Some others do it to save some time and dedicate an entire gym hour to strength training or cardio. Sure warm-ups won’t help you in building muscles but they play an important role in getting better results from the workout.
Why Warming up is necessary?
Cutting Injury Risk
Weight training or strength training involves lifting heavy weights and it may sometimes lead to injuries or soreness. When you warm up before lifting, the muscle elastic improves and the probability of sustaining injuries or overheating during workout goes down.
Better Flexibility
Stretching is an important part of warm-ups. When you stretch your different muscles, the blood flow to muscles is increased and your body’s flexibility is increased. Proper stretching not only prevents you from injuries but also helps in overcoming problems like soreness of muscles.
Increasing Body Temperature
Increased body temperature is very good for your muscles as it ensures the availability of ample amounts of oxygen to the muscles. This ensures easier contraction and relaxation of muscles. It also ensures that your heart gets enough oxygen and problems like shortness of breath are cut short.
You Become Mentally Prepared
When you start lifting straight away after entering the gym, your mind is not prepared and it takes some time to adapt to the change. A proper warm-up gives your mind enough time to adapt to the change also prepares you mentally for an intense weight training session.
Now, there are a lot of easy and common warm-up exercises that you can do before entering an intense workout session. We have brought to you a list of some of the most common and useful warm-up exercises.
Jumping Jacks
Right from the PT sessions at school to the gym, Jumping Jacks is one of the most common warm-up exercises. It is one of the most useful exercises for opening up your muscles and increasing blood flow. To perform jumping jacks, stand hip-width apart with your arms at your sides, raise your arms and jump your feet simultaneously. Return to the initial position without pausing. Perform this motion as many times as you can.
Push-ups
Push-ups are one of the most common and oldest warm-up exercises. Push-ups increase your body temperature, prepare your upper body muscles for the workout and also improves the blood flow. You can do 2-3 sets of pushups with 15-20 reps in each set. You can also try different variations of push-ups such as diamond push-ups, wide grip push-ups, clap pushups and toe touch push-ups. Apart from warming up, push-ups also help in building muscles.
Knees Lift
Knees Lift is one of the most useful warm-up exercises for increasing blood flow in the lower body. It also increases the flexibility of the lower body and is particularly useful when you are set to do a leg workout or back workout. To do this exercise, stand with a hip-width apart and place your hands behind your head. Lift your left leg and try to touch the rib with your knee bent. Do the same movement with the right leg. Perform this workout for 30 to 60 seconds.
Also Read, Common Muscle Building Mistakes To Avoid For Better Growth
Rope Jumps
Rope jumps is one of the warm-up exercises for boosting the stamina and increasing body temperature. It ups your heartbeat rate and boosts the blood circulations as well. It is one of the quickest warm-up exercises and can be particularly useful when you are short on time. 2 minutes of rope jumping can do the trick. To make the warm-up exercise more complex, you can try different variations of rope jumps.
Squats
Sticking to the basic is the key here. Squats are great for warming up the body and increase the lower body’s temperature. Squats not only help you in adding the size of your legs but also helps in opening up your lower body muscles for an intense session of workout. Stand hip-width apart and move your hips down without moving your knees forward. Do 15-20 reps in a set and perform 3-4 sets of squats.
Pull-ups
Pull-ups is one of the proven strength-building exercises. It helps in opening up the muscles, increasing the muscle strength and boosting the heart rate. It engages your entire upper body as well as your core. Find an iron bar or a normal pull up bar and hold it with the grips of your hand shoulder-width apart. Pull your body upwards without bending the knees. Squeeze your back muscles while going up and relax while going down. Do 10-15 reps of pull-ups in a set. 3 sets of pull-ups will be enough to warm up your body.
