News & Events

Importance of Warming Up Before Exercise
By: Fred Smith, Personal Trainer

Warming up is a way to tell your mind and body its time to exercise. I personally enjoy the ten minutes I take to warm up. It gives me time to go over in my head what my workout will include and it allows me to visualize myself executing movements. I usually start my warm up with five minutes on a piece cardio equipment such as a rowing machine, elliptical, bike etc. I follow that up with some dynamic stretching and that can be anything from kicking my leg back and forth like a pendulum, rotating my arms from my shoulders, or twisting from side to side, basically allowing the body to move openly with maximum range of motion. If I happen to be working a particular muscle group I tend to perform 1-2 light sets on the preferred muscle group. For example if it is leg day, I will do some air squats or lunges.

Some benefits of warming up:

-Increased blood flow to muscles
-chances of over working or stretching a muscle are far less
-warming up improves muscle elasticity
-Improved range of motion
-perform at a higher level

So remember to warm up before you start putting any serious strain on your body. You wont regret it!