Stretching and warm up exercises for fitness

Stretching and warm up exercises are an important part of any sports or fitness program. A warm up routine is highly beneficial in preventing injuries. A good warm up routine is composed of certain essential elements that have a combined effect, protecting the body from sports injuries or other physical strain.

The reason why warming up is such a key part of any physical activity is because it prepares the body for further vigorous activity. It achieves this purpose by elevating the body temperature and also the temperature of the body muscles. This makes the muscles supple and flexible.

A good warm up also raises the heart rate, as well as the rate of respiration. This promotes better blood flow and improves the supply of oxygen to the muscles. This quite naturally, prepares the muscles and joints to work better during physical activity. A warm up also helps you mentally prepare for the workout. It can help you get into the mood and will enable you to focus a lot more effectively on your workout. This is also an important part of any exercise routine, as being mentally unprepared or disinterested can affect the quality of your workout.

Good Warm Up Routine

A good warm up routine must begin with simple, gentle movements that will gradually progresses to more energetic movements. This should continue until the body reaches its optimum state, both physically and mentally. In such a state, the body is fully prepared for strenuous activity and the risk of injury is minimal. The benefits and importance of warming up cannot be understated and all fitness instructors insist on warm up routines prior to a work out or training. The manner in which a warm up routine is structured is also crucial, so don’t just do a couple of stretches and assume that you’ve done a warm up. A warm up routine should be composed of four vital parts in order to be effective. All these parts carry equal importance and none should be ignored. Before you learn about the four main aspects of a workout routine, there’s something that you should keep in mind about stretching. While there are many who assume that stretching exercises suffice as a warm up, performing a few stretches does not prepare the body for strenuous activity and hence may not be helpful in minimizing injuries. Stretching is an important activity, but it should constitute one of the components of a more wholesome warm up routine.

The first part of a warm up routine is a general or non specific warm up. This stage consists of light movements such as walking, skipping or gentle aerobics. The amount of time you allot to the general warm up depends upon your levels of fitness. In general, it should continue for about 5 to 10 minutes, by the end of which you will probably experience some amount of perspiration. This helps raise the heart rate, quickens respiration, improves oxygen flow and makes the muscles more pliable.

The second part of your warm up routine should consist of static stretching. This should target all the main muscle groups and must continue for about 5 to 10 minutes. In order to perform static stretching, you need to position your body in such a way so that the target muscles undergo tension. There is some speculation that static stretching may negatively affect the rate of muscle contraction and this could hinder performance. For this reason, this type of stretching is scheduled early in the routine, and followed by sport specific activity and dynamic stretching.

After properly completing the first two parts of the routine, you can move on to the third element, which includes sports specific drills. In this stage you perform movements which reflect the activity that will be done during the actual sport or fitness program. It enables the body to prepare for the demands of the actual strenuous activity that will follow.

The fourth part of a good warm up routine is dynamic stretching. This is aimed at conditioning the muscles for flexibility and ideally should only be performed by trained athletes. It is also advisable to do this under supervision due to the risk of injury it involves. Dynamic stretching involves controlled swinging movements that force various parts of the body to move beyond their usual movement range.

All individuals do not have the same levels of fitness and hence the appropriate warm up exercises will vary from one individual to another. Individuals who live largely sedentary lifestyles will need to perform a different warm up routine as compared to professional athletes. A good point to remember is that a warm up should be structured according to the physical activity you intend to perform.

For example if you plan to sprint, then jogging in place for a few minutes will help you prepare your body. In case you intend to engage in weight lifting, then you can focus on stretching the body parts that will be involved in the lifting. It is essential that your warm up routine does not tire you out before you even begin your actual exercise program.