You’re rushing to the gym after a grueling day at work and only have an hour to work out before you need to get home to start dinner for the family. You are trying to beat the after work crowd and want to secure your spot at the squat rack before it gets taken. After rushing over to the bar and loading it up with your weight, you start your set. With the first repetition you feel stiff, sore, and maybe even some pain. Does this sound like you?
Believe it or not, this scenario is true more often than not for many people. This is a recipe for disaster when it comes to injury risk. I am sure you have heard many times before about how you should “warm up” before your workout but you aren’t really sure what to do nor do you feel like you have the time to do it! We need to maximize that precious time in the gym and who can be bothered to use it for just warming up? Plus, you feel confused about all the different “ways” to warm up…should you be stretching, doing some cardio, a combination? Well, don’t worry. I am here to tell you just what to do to help maximize your workout and your time.
What is the Purpose of a Warm Up?
The warm-up is really meant to help prepare the body for the workout you are about to perform. You are getting yourself mentally and physically ready. As it suggests, warming up before your workout should increase blood flow and muscle temperature to help mitigate your risk of injury. Most often we think doing a couple of static stretches before we get started should do the trick. However, recent research has suggested that this may, in fact, inhibit performance instead of help. A dynamic warm-up is now thought to be best practice when it comes to properly warming up before a workout.
So What is A Dynamic Warm Up?
A dynamic warm-up is simply a series of movements that are similar in nature to the movements of your workout. Which will typically involve stretching, activation, and balance all at the same time. The idea is that you are putting your body through more functional patterns to prepare yourself for the workout ahead.
Why Should I Do A Dynamic Warm-Up?
There are plenty of benefits for performing a dynamic warm-up prior to your exercise. First of all, as mentioned above you are bringing blood flow to the muscles, raising the body’s temperature, and stretching and activating the muscles you are about to use. This all works together to help reduce your overall risk of injury and keep your body healthy and moving well. Secondly, you are getting a lot of bang for your buck by involving multiple joints and muscle groups within your warm up. Compound movements allow you to recruit the most muscle fibers without spending hours warming up.
If you are like most people, the time commitment for warming up is one of the biggest deterrents. A good dynamic warm-up is short and effective. You can easily do a quick 5-10 min warm up sequence with common functional movement patterns to get the most out of your training.
Still not sure exactly what to do for your warm up? Don’t worry. I have put together an easy to perform total body dynamic warm-up that you can perform before any workout. This takes the guesswork out of what to do to warm up and allows you to focus on getting the most out of your workout.
I have included a FREE PDF printout you can take with you to the gym so you won’t forget what to do as well as a quick video demo to watch to make sure you are able to perform all the movements correctly. CLICK HERE to get your hands on this great total body dynamic warm-up…your body will thank you! 🙂
Until next time…
Xx
Allison
