What
is a warm up?
Many people
understand a warm up to be stretching to loosen the muscles. In reality warming up really is just that,
this misunderstanding has led to injuries with average exercisers and high
level athletes.
A muscle can be
seen as a rubber band, which can stretch several times beyond its resting length and then pull back to its original
size. If that rubber band were put in a
freezer (inactivity) then taken out, when you tried to stretch it, it would
most likely snap.
The purpose of an
effective warm up is to warm up that rubber band that that it has the
elasticity to move.
Another way to
think about this is starting your car.
If it has been a few days since you have driven or you live in a colder
climate you will let it set and idle for a bit.
The oil, usually described as a car’s life blood, is thick and viscous
when the engine is cold. As the car
warms ups the oil gets thinner, more fluid, and moves through the system more
easily.
Not letting the
engine idle can mean it clogging out just when you are about to accelerate into
traffic. Bad thing. Warming up your
muscles, tendons and joints before regular exercise is the idling time your
body needs to get it’s fluids…well fluid, so that it does not clog out when you
begin your routine.
An additional value
of a smart generalized warm up routine is that it does not have to be done JUST
before a workout. Ideally it could be
done several times a day for the same purpose, keep that rubber band lose and
functional, keep the fluids circulating.
We train to be
better at life. The more you marry the two, using one to assist the learning of
the other, the stronger you will be for it body and mind.
If you need help
with program design you can contact me at
All the best,
Steve
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