No matter how much time you have for an exercise session or how long the sports game going to last, do not rush to the core of the workout without proper warm up. A warm-up just as shortly as 5 minutes but well-executed and comprehensive will paid off with improved performance in power, speed, agility, endurance, flexibility and strength.
The purpose of warm up is to prepare yourself physically and mentally for the dynamic actions to follow. Those who dash to the gym also need to quickly switch the mindset from office environment or sedentary moments to an hour of physical activity.
A good warm-up should have movements designed to elevate the heart rate. Movements allow the joints move to the range as required in the forthcoming situation but at a lower intensity and loads. The key is to make the short session dynamic and progressive.
Holding a muscle to stretch passively is not recommend prior to exercise; rather dynamic stretching better serves the above purpose. Before that, using foam roller to facilitate self-myofascial release is also encouraged. Progressively increase the intensity of warm up exercises. Starting with jogging or multi-directional running exercises followed by high impact movement like skipping, bounding, jumping and progressive sprints. When one starting to breath heavily with a mild sweat is a sign to progress to the main session or prepare for higher intensity of workout
Is static stretching totally remove from the warm up? Ideally, one should stretch whole body to normal length at the beginning of the day especially when certain areas of body is particularly tight. We should not wait to stretch until workout day or event. Static stretching should always be included in the end of the event for developmental flexibility or just maintain the normal length. Special considerations may happen in certain sports that need extreme static range of motion.
The length of dynamic warm up is approximately five to 15 minutes, as long as it works up to the intensity that allow you fully ready to begin the main session. For morning sessions training, it may take slightly longer. Don’t mistaken that dynamic warm up just for athletic sports, it is also beneficial to strength training program. It is so much easier to go through the toughest part of the workout. Take a look of how dynamic stretching works in a 30-min circuit training.
