Have you been doing some of the best waist training exercises but feel sore after? Or have you only just started exercising and wondered why warm-ups are so important? Are there any benefits to warming up? What should your warm-up exercises look like if so? It’s tempting to skip a warm-up before you work out. We’ve all done it. It takes time and it just doesn’t feel like you’re getting that much accomplished. However, sometimes not warming up can have bad consequences such as an injury. If injuries are repeated regularly it could cause you to need physical therapy in Highlands Ranch or the help of a physiotherapist in your local area if it becomes a more serious reoccurring injury.
Do You Need Warm Up Exercises:
Warm-up exercises are done to reduce the risk of injury. Not just impact injuries, which may be reduced by the use of sustainable socks, specially tailored to sports, and also gym shoes that have the correct shock absorption technology and support. But, perhaps surprisingly a person who regularly completes sports might be surprised to find out that repetitive motions could strain the muscles (such as repeated swings of your arms). Something like these Best Rated Workout Elbow Sleeves for Men could help to heal these injuries but prevention is always key. By stretching in a warm-up, muscles aren’t as easily shocked from sudden stress from a workout. In addition, warm-up exercises can help improve performance and strength during a workout or sporting event. it has been found that warm-ups improved performance on 79% of tested criteria, according to One meta analysis. Improvement was found specifically in cycling, running, swimming, vertical jumps, long jumps, agility, softball, basketball, bowling, and golf. Improvement in the studies analyzed ranged from less than 1% to 20%. The evidence around injury prevention is mixed, however one review found that warm ups do indeed reduce the risk of injury.
So it appears that warm up exercises can be beneficial. But what should you do during your warm up?
- Studies show that the warm up should be between 5 and 10 minutes.
- Aerobic exercises should be performed at 40% to 70% of VO2max (your max capacity)
- One review found that static stretching (holding stretches) reduced performance in the majority of studies. Dynamic stretching (actively moving the muscle through the entire range of motion), however, tended to increase performance. Dynamic stretching of anywhere between 90 seconds and 10 minutes can improve performance (with more typically being better). The researchers recommended only using static stretching if your warming up for a sport like gymnastics that requires a lot of flexibility. Even in that case, you should limit your time using static stretching to less that 90 second per muscle. Studies have found consistent decrements in performance when static stretching for 90 seconds or more per muscle, mixed results for 30 to 60 seconds, and trivial decrements when static stretching for 30 seconds or less.
- Do warm up sets before lifting weights (especially when lifting heavy weights).
- Finally, the exercise choices should be sports specific. So, if you’re about to run, starting out walking and/or jogging would be a good choice.
Conclusion:
Avoid the temptation to skip warm ups. Warm up exercises ideally should be 5-10 minutes at 40% to 70% VO2max. Stretching should be dynamic and exercises chosen should be specific to the exercise or sport you’re about to perform when possible. Good luck!
Citations:
Behm, David G., and Anis Chaouachi. “A review of the acute effects of static and dynamic stretching on performance.” European journal of applied physiology 111.11 (2011): 2633-2651.
Bishop, David. “Warm up II.” Sports Medicine 33.7 (2003): 483-498.
Fradkin, Andrea J., Tsharni R. Zazryn, and James M. Smoliga. “Effects of warming-up on physical performance: a systematic review with meta-analysis.”The Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research 24.1 (2010): 140-148.
Woods, Krista, Phillip Bishop, and Eric Jones. “Warm-up and stretching in the prevention of muscular injury.” Sports Medicine 37.12 (2007): 1089-1099.