WARM UP - WHY?

I must admit that many times I found warming up boring and I do tend to cheat. Warm ups can be boring but there is no denying that they do much more than preparing our body for the work out.

Our muscles are like elastic, they expand and contract. And if we are not adequately warmed up, the sudden jerk or movement will cause the muscle to tear. Warm up increases the blood circulation thus increasing the blood flow to the exercising muscles delivering nutrients required muscles for energy production. The same thing applies for ligaments and tendons, the injury to which may put you out of action for weeks.

Warm up can be exercise specific. For example, to prepare for jogging, you may warm up by running lightly on the treadmill. This helps in warming up the specific muscles...by waking up the muscle memory which in turn will help you in performing better.

The bones and joints are other susceptible areas which are prone to injuries during an exercise session.
To prevent the joints from corrosion and locking, warming up is necessary as it helps the fluids reach the joints making them subtle.

Warming up also prepares your heart for action and sometimes warm ups can save your life.

Stretching muscles and holding them for 10 to 30 seconds is best method of stretching. Ideally, this form of stretching...the Static Stretching is done after the general warm up, the reason being the same that it may cause muscle tear when the muscle is not warm.

For the general exercise session a warm up of 15 minutes is ideal which can be either on the treadmill/ spinning or rowing. Dynamic Stretching improves mobility of the muscles. Some of the warm up exercises and stretches are - Leg raise, trunk rotation, shoulder rotation, leg abduction, side run and spot jogging.

So, before you take the plunge get rid of the scrunch!