The Importance of Stretching and Warming Up Before a Workout
A flexible body is one that will bend before breaking. Have you ever tried to snap a dry twig? Easy, isn't it? Have you tried to snap a healthy, flexible twig? Not so easy right? That's how you want your body to be and stretching is how to get it there. Stretching will condition your muscles to move with less stress on the fibers.
For maximum protection, it's important to warm up before stretching. I know this sounds odd and you probably think I'm saying that you need to stretch before you workout, but also workout before you stretch. Let me clear this up. The warm-up should be non-strenuous movements that you can perform easily without any risk of trauma. The goal of the warm up is to actually warm up your muscles by circulating blood throughout your body with simple movements.
When your muscles are warmed up, they become like elastic and are flexible. Imagine your muscles as chewing gum. Initially out of the package, the gum is stiff and brittle and if you try to bend it, the gum will snap in half. If you want to blow a bubble, you will need to warm up your gum by chewing it. A good way to think of warm-ups and stretching is to think about it as a quick insurance policy for your workout. If you prepare properly and still become injured, odds are that you would have been hurt much more seriously if you had neglected to warm up and stretch before your workout.
Good warm-up exercises are easy to perform. Simple range of motion exercises are fine. Just focus on getting your blood flowing to your muscles. Swing your arms, walk in place while remembering to lift your knees high, and occasionally throw in a couple jumping jacks. Now, follow your warm-up with some simple stretches making sure to get all your joints nice and loose. You can get a proper stretch by holding it for 10 seconds and moving on to the next stretch. The whole process, including warm ups and stretching, doesn't have to take any more than 5 good minutes.
Use this quick and effective routine before your workout.
Warm up routine:
10 Jumping jacks
50 Arm circles
30 Knee raises
Streches:
Good morning stretch- This is the stretch we do when we get up in the morning. Extend your arms up over you head and roll your shoulders back to incorporate the back.
Palms out- Extend your arms forward with your palms facing up.
Touch your toes- This is a straight forward stretch. If you can't touch your toes then touch down as low as comfortably possible. If you can touch beyond your toes touch the ground. You can preform these standing or sitting.
Butter fly leg stretch- Sit on the floor and touch the bottoms of your feet together and gently push down on your knees. Don't push too hard, you are not trying to touch your knees to the ground. Focus on getting a good comfortable stretch.
Source: MayoClinic.com
Published by Jason Cooley
I can't write this in the third person... I just can't. To do so would make me feel like a douche big enough to accommodate Madonna. My articles are a change of pace from what you can expect anywhere else. M... View profile
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- Warm-ups should be non-strenuous movements that you can perform easily without any risk of trauma
- You can get a proper stretch by holding it for 10 seconds and moving on to the next stretch.
- The stretching and warm-up process doesn't have to take any more than 5 good minutes.