Fitness: 3 Tips For The Perfect Warm-Up:

If you said the warm-up, you win! Without a proper warm-up, there are many risks associated with working out, including but not limited to injury, less-than-optimal performance, or slowed progress (aka plateauing).

There are five integral parts of a warm-up that must be addressed before even touching a weight or setting foot on the treadmill. Start strong, finish stronger!

3 Tips For The Perfect Warm-Up:

1. Dynamic Mobility:

Dynamic mobility is the body’s ability to move in multiple directions safely. Closely related to flexibility (but arguably even more important),“dynamic mobility gently increases range of motion to reduce chance for injury,” Johnson says. Injuries caused by lack of joint mobility can be especially debilitating for long periods of time. According to Colin Eakin, MD, a physician at the Palo Alto Medical Foundation, recovery from a torn labrum (a common shoulder injury), for instance, could take anywhere from four weeks post-operation rest plus two months of physical therapy to heal, or it could continue indefinitely. To up your chances of staying in the game, dynamic mobility can help. Try dynamic movements, such as arm circles and leg swings against a wall (working the upper and lower body is key!).

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2. Movement-Specific Preparation:

You turn on your car before heading out for a drive. By the same logic, you need to turn on the parts of your brain that control motion in preparation for a workout. The main benefit to movement-specific preparation is activating muscles that will be used in that day’s workout to ensure your workout is as effective as possible. For example, bodyweight squats would make sense if you are doing front barbell squats, and light band presses or push-ups for a day you’re doing a pressing motion, like a bench press.

3. Increase Core Temperature:

It’s called a “warm-up” for good reason. “The increase in blood flow and higher muscle temperature makes muscles more pliable, and that pliability prevents strains,”.

A muscle strain may seem like a minor setback, but once strained, the likelihood of that strain reoccurring becomes much higher, Johnson says, which can lead to more strains, more time out of the gym, and slowed down (or nonexistent, gasp!) results.