Our Los Angeles personal trainer at Train With Danny knows how quickly someone can pull a muscle, sprain an ankle, or tear a ligament when they skip the all-important step of warming up before a workout.
The truth is, launching into any workout without properly warming up can lead to serious injuries that not only sideline you from working out, but can also negatively impact your personal and professional lives away from the gym.
Here is why your warm-up routine is just as important as your workout.
What Happens to My Body When I Warm Up Before a Workout?
Five to ten minutes of warming up before your workout gently prepares your muscles for the upcoming exercises, by increasing the heart rate and circulation, which loosens joints and improves blood flow to muscles.
The warm-up portion of any workout is one of the best defenses against injury.
Warm-Ups Increase Strength and the Number of Calories Burned
Proper warm-ups translate to an increase in strength and the number of calories burned.
Strength increases when we push our muscles to work beyond our comfort zone. When we warm up first, we can push harder — whether it is more reps, or heavier weights — and become stronger, with a lesser chance of getting hurt.
What is the Best Way to Warm Up Before a Workout?
The good news is, there is no wrong way to warm up before a workout if it gets your heart gradually pumping a little faster than its baseline beat.
Depending on your workout preference, a warm-up can be a walk or jog, or another brief aerobic exercise.
Other easy-to-implement warm-up exercises may include leg swings and bends, shoulder and arm circles, jumping jacks, jumping rope, lunges, and squats.
If you are working on strength training, use fewer pound weights before moving forward with your usual lifting routine.
In the end, the benefits of warming up include more than remaining uninjured.
Warming up helps increase flexibility, blood flow and oxygen for muscle nourishment, and improves your overall range of motion and performance, which ultimately means lesser post-workout muscle tension, stiffness, and pain.
Need Help Getting Started? Train With Danny Inspires Success.
Contact us at Train With Danny to learn more about the transformative benefits of partnering with a personal trainer in West Hollywood, Los Angeles County, or to talk about your personal fitness goals and to learn how we can help you get there safely and effectively.
If you are ready to get started on your own, explore our on-demand and live classes, or download our new app to workout offline, track your progress and collect health data, and get an all-access pass to premium features to take control of your training today. Sign up for our fitness plan on the app for just $1 for the first 30 days!