Many people struggle to carve out time in their busy day to exercise. They may be tempted to cut corners and save time by skipping a warm-up. Why is so important to do a warm-up? Warming up stimulates your neuromuscular system and reduces risk of injury.When you do an active warm-up and your core body temperature rises, nerve impulses gradually pick up speed up and signal to your muscle fibers to contract. This neuromuscular action also assists the joints, muscles, and ligaments to be more elastic and less likely to be hurt by strains and tears. The increased nerve conduction rate means nerves and muscle fibers have an opportunity to communicate better, which helps your muscles to work more efficiently, quickly, and intensely. Warming up prepares your cardiovascular system and increases oxygen flow to muscles gradually and safely.Warming up before exercise allows the body to gradually increase heart rate, blood pressure, and breathing. Jumping into intense exercise without warming up can increase the risk for irregular heart rhythms and/or heart attack. Studies show that healthy participants with normal ECG’s showed irregular heart rhythms during exercise testing without a warm-up, but adding even a two-minute warm up helped reduce or eliminate risks associated with this. During the tests without a warm-up, inadequate oxygen delivery to the heart caused the irregularities. Warming up stimulates the blood vessels to dilate, which improves oxygen and blood flow to muscles. This helps the muscles to be more elastic and improves muscle force and power. A proper warm-up can help prevent lymphedema. Lymphedema can be caused by many factors, including cancer surgery, radiation, obesity, inactivity, infections, and genetics. A warm-up can help stimulate lymphatic flow and help prevent lymphedema. Lymphedema is an important topic and will be discussed in future articles on this site.A warm-up can help prepare you mentally for the workout.Have you ever skipped a workout, simply because you just didn’t feel motivated? Warming up helps prepare the mind for the upcoming work, as well as preparing the body. Just like Newton’s law of Inertion, “a body at rest tends to stay at rest. A body in motion tends to stay in motion.” So, get moving!!What does a good warm-up look like? Should you stretch during a warm-up? Studies show that static stretching (holding a pose) with cold muscles may be detrimental to your workout. Instead, try dynamic stretching, which may include wide arms swings (vertically or horizontally), leg swings, etc.An effective warm-up for a basic workout can be 5-10 minutes long, although studies show that even a two-minute warm-up is beneficial. Depending on the sport and intensity, such as a professional soccer match, some warm-ups may even be 20-30 minutes. Two common types of warm-ups include a specific warm-up and a general warm-up. An example of a specific warm-up would be a runner jogging (or even walking) and gradually picking up the pace for five minutes. In a strength training warm-up, a specific warm-up might include the exercises that will be done later on in the workout, but excluding the weights (or lighter weights). For example, a walking lunge and/or a side lunge, but only using bodyweight or a light weight. A general warm-up might include jumping jacks, jogging-in-place, or some other light aerobic activity, as well as isometrics, plyometrics, foam rolling, and vibration. The possibilities are endless. Be creative and have fun with it!
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