How to Properly Warm Up Before an Exercise



A proper warm-up helps lessen the risk of injury that comes with exercise.

Why warm-up?

Physiologically, warm up assists the circulatory system by pumping oxygen-rich blood to the active muscles. A proper warm-up should gradually increase your heart rate to prepare the body for increase exercise demands. When the muscles are warm, they are better able to absorb shock and are less susceptible to injury.

Benefits of a proper warm-up:

·         Increased movement of blood through your tissues, making the muscles more pliable.
·         Increased delivery of oxygen and nutrients to your muscles. This prevents you from getting out of breath early or too easily.
·         Prepares your muscles for stretching.
·         Prepares your heart for an increase in activity, preventing a rapid increase in blood pressure.
·         Prepares you mentally for the upcoming exercise.
·         Primes your nerve-to-muscle pathways to be ready for exercise.
·         Improved coordination and reaction times.
·         Reduced likelihood of injury
·         Improved athletic performance
·         Greater mental concentration
·         Improved fitness
·         Faster recovery from activity
·         Improved flexibility

Warming up alone shows no change in range of motion, but when stretching is done afterwards range of motion is increased. This does not mean that stretching before exercise prevents injuries but rather warm up prevents injuries while stretching has no effect on injury.
If injury prevention is the primary objective the evidence suggests that athletes should limit the stretching before exercise and increase the warm-up time.

How to warm-up?

As a general guideline, an effective warm up should  produce mild sweating without fatigue and should progress through four primary phases:

Warm up – Phase 1
The first phase of a warm up should involve a low intensity cardiovascular exercise such as light jogging or walking to increase the heart rate and blood flow to muscles. This phase of the warm-up should last for 5-10 mins.

Warm up – Phase 2
The second phase of the warm up should involve dynamic range of movement exercises to loosen up the joints and muscles to be used. This phase of the warm up should focus on those specific body parts to be used for that particular sport or exercise program. These warm up stretches should be dynamic rather than static as static stretches will decrease heart rate and cause a cooling effect thereby opposing the goals of a warm up. Some examples of dynamic warm up stretches include: lunges, squats, lower back rotations, trunk rotations, leg kicks, arm rotations etc.

Warm up – Phase 3
The third phase of a warm up should entail warm up activities involving agility, acceleration, deceleration and speed drills, preparing your body for faster movements that will be required for your particular sport or activity. This should involve a gradual progression starting at low intensity and building up to greater intensity. This phase of the warm up may involve, for example, repeated strides, initially in straight lines and at low intensities and then progress to change of direction and greater intensities.

Warm up – Phase 4
The fourth and final phase of a warm up is the sport or activity specific phase. This is where you perform the skills involved in your particular sport or activity, initially at low intensity and then building up to greater intensity. For example, footballers may perform warm up activities such as running, jumping drills and kicking for goal, basketball players may perform dribbling, passing, shooting and rebounding etc. By the end of this phase of the warm up you should be performing your particular skill at 100%, thereby ensuring your body is ready to perform the required skills in a match situation at 100%.

For non sporting activities such as a routine exercise program geared towards specific body parts, phase 3 and phase 4 are excluded from the warm up.

For how long?

The more intense the activity, the longer the warm up (more than 5 minutes). A proper warm up for sporting activities should be at least 15-20 mins in duration. So for a regular routine workout, 5-10 mins of warm-up should be enough.





Sources:
https://www.physioadvisor.com.au/health/injury-prevention/warm-up-cool-down/



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