Prepare Your Body for Action by Warming up Properly

When you walk into the gym, the easiest thing to do is to immediately start lifting heavy weights, so that you can reach your goal as soon as possible. But, for every training you need to warm up first, in order to avoid injury. This implies not only physical but also mental preparation. Namely, when you warm up, you increase the amount of oxygen in the muscles, but you also “turn on” the neural networks from the brain to the muscles, which help you to be more efficient. That is why in this article we will try to find out (or remind ourselves) how to prepare your body for action by warming up properly.

First phase

In this warm-up stage, your goal is to raise your body temperature by a few degrees. In this way, you improve the blood flow in the muscles and increase the amount of oxygen in them. Also, this improves the activity of enzymes in the muscles, accelerates their metabolism and increases the required energy.
To achieve this, get your heart rate up with low-resistance exercises, such as cycling or simulated rowing. Exercise for 5 to 10 minutes (if it’s a warm period), or 10 to 15 minutes (in a cold period). Remember, muscles and joints become more flexible when you warm up. One fitness trainer compared muscles to plasticine – the more warm they are, the better they stretch.

Second phase

Once you’ve warmed up, avoid static stretching. In other words, in this warm-up phase, imitate the movements you will perform during training. In this way, you increase strength and speed during the training itself. There is even research that shows that static stretching, after an active warm-up, reduces anaerobic power.

For dynamic movements to activate the joints, we suggest the following exercises:

1. Tighten the stretching band in one hand. Hold it with the elbow next to the body. Rotate the upper part of the arm until the fist turns 180 degrees. Repeat 10 times. Replace the hand.
2. Hold the band in your hands, taut at waist height. Bend your elbows, stretch the band above your head. Repeat the exercise 10 times.
3. Take a lighter ball and guide it with one hand along the wall, from the floor to the top of the wall. Switch hands, lower the ball towards the floor. Do this 10 times.

The third phase

In the final phase of the warm-up, adapt to the first exercise of your training. That means, use 50% of the target weight you want to lift. Prepare your body for lifting heavy weights by doing the same exercise, but with lighter weights. This activates a specific neural network between the brain and muscles. This will ultimately help you achieve peak performance. Otherwise, we recommend doing this exercise from 12 to 15 repetitions.

Reminder

Don’t ever be tempted to skip the first two phases and immediately go to the warm-up with lighter weights. In this case, your muscles will still be cold and prone to injury. Also, it is quite certain that in this way you reduce the optimal performance of the training. Therefore, gradually reach the top results.