Warm Up for a Better Workout By Michael Collins

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3 Reasons for a Proper Warm Up

 

We get a lot of questions on the proper way to warm up before a workout.  The warm up is an important part of the workout- it can make the difference between a good workout and an awesome workout.  It can also make a difference in protecting against injury.

 

Why Warm Up?

 

1) Increases the flexibility and elasticity of the muscles. Warming up increases your heart rate and gets the blood (carrying oxygen and nutrients) flowing into the muscles and connective tissues. This gradually prepares the body for greater activity and allows for more flexibility and elasticity of the muscles.   

 

Have you ever got out of bad just after waking up on a cold morning?  Your body might feel a little tight.  You may need to take a deep breath and stretch. Maybe massage your face a bit. This loosens the muscles a bit and gets the oxygen flowing so you can carry on normal activity. This is the body coming out of sleep mode, and acclimating the body for the day ahead.

 

The body naturally adjusts to the work being done. Just as you come out of sleep mode and prepare for normal activity, you want to prepare the body to go from normal to intense activity.

 

On top of increasing flexibility and elasticity, you'll also release adrenaline into the blood stream thereby increasing the work/ pain threshold.
 

2) Increase the Work/ Pain Threshold.  The W/P Threshold is the point of uncomfortably that you feel when pushing yourself to your limits.  The work/ pain threshold is the collection of hormones and enzymes and receptors in the body that signal the point of heavy work load.

 

Tolerance for this threshold increases as you warm up.

 

Example: if you were to walk over to the recumbent bike and get on and crank up the resistance right away and start pedaling like mad, you'd hit the threshold very fast.  Your legs would burn like crazy, your heart would race and you may want to vomit.

 

If you were to warm up and acclimate the body for 5- 8 minutes before hand, your threshold would rise ten- fold.

 

3) Produce More Force Output.  In other words, warm muscles are stronger muscles.  Researchers from Arkansas State University have done studies on how temperature affects muscle force production.  They found that as blood flow increased to the muscles- and overall body temperature raised, the force output increased.

 

Given these factors, I'd say it's a no-brainer to take an extra 5-8 minutes to get the body warmed up, injury free and stronger.

 

Now, get your warm up going, and go do the Bodyweight Workout!