Is it necessary to warm up before doing any physical activity, or is it just important but can be avoided? Does warming up before training have any benefit?
Let’s be honest, how many times have we gone straight to the weights, or started running without doing a good warm-up, and yes, this is something common in many beginners.
Whether due to ignorance or disinterest, few people spend at least 10 minutes preparing their body for a more demanding activity, despite the fact that this is one of the most important aspects of training.
So, let’s discover together why this process is so important, I will give you some tips so that it does not become something annoying, and that you can warm up as efficiently as possible.
Benefits of muscle warm up before training
What is heating for? Well, when we warm up our muscles, our body begins to irrigate a greater volume of fresh, oxygen-rich blood.
This raises blood pressure and heart rate, while stimulating the elimination of waste produced in the muscle by previous training previously performed.
But basically, “heating”, and as its name implies, is the process by which we raise the temperature of the body.
We thus achieve that the body is prepared for the effort to be made and in this way considerably reduces the probability of suffering some type of injury.
How to warm up before training with weights?
We have already seen how to warm up before running or doing an aerobic exercise, let’s see now how to do it if our training will be aimed at muscle development.
There are many different ways to warm up the body to deal with our activity:
A few minutes, between 8 and 10 of Cardio on the treadmill or stationary bike can be useful as long as we maintain a low to moderate intensity.
However, when you are going to perform an exercise that requires a great muscular effort for a certain area, the warm-up must be as effective as possible, and this is crucial the specificity in this process.
This means that if one focuses the warm-up to the upper body for a weight training session, it is logical that the initial loading phase consists of activities carried out in that area.
Sample warm-up routine for the gym
Let’s look at a short introduction to how to perform a basic warm-up routine:
- Start with 5-10 minutes of cardiovascular activity.
- Then, do 1 or 2 sets of a compound exercise with a barbell or dumbbell free of load or very low weight, or with free weight, this exercise should be aimed at the muscle groups you plan to train.
In summary, for the first exercise of each muscle group, we will do a warm-up series before loading the weight to be performed.
Let’s see a concrete example in case it is not clear, if you decide to work your pectorals with any of the chest exercises in our guide, we will start with 8 minutes of tape and then we will do a light warm-up with a series of 10 to 20 repetitions only with the bar or with very little weight, before starting our royal series.
If you then continue with a different exercise for pecs, you do not need to do the warm-up set again.
Tips on body warm up
Never forget to fully warm up before serious things happen.
The time of day can also be a factor to consider.
A session in the gym at 9:00 in the morning will probably require a greater warm-up than we would do at the end of the day, as the muscles are slightly more “asleep” at dawn.
Do not forget about accessory muscles, for that it is good to warm up with a compound exercise.
For example, if you have programmed a shoulder bench press, you will be requesting the delts, but the triceps, neck, and trapezius will also play a part in the effort. Therefore, you should also pay special attention to the muscle warm-up of these secondary muscle groups.