Regardless of whether you are a fitness rookie or a gym regular… you should always do a pre-workout warm-up session!  

Although skipping the warm-up can be more damaging than you think, it is becoming one of the most common mistakes nowadays due to people having busy schedules and thinking it is a waste of time… but are they wrong?

Actually, it is one of the most important things to consider in your exercise. It is not just a way of mentally preparing yourself for the main workout to come, but taking the most of it and preventing injuries.

• How?

A complete warm-up routine consists of the following:

• Basic warm-up – Cardio
• Specific warm-up (if you’re preparing to exercise a specific body part)

The first two of those should be mandatory.

Warm-up exercises promote blood flow throughout the body, including your muscles. 

If you skip the warm-up and jump directly to stretching, you could harm your still cold, rigid and unlubricated muscles.

For a specific warm-up, I always focus on the muscles which will be involved in the workout. For example, just like squatting is not a good warm-up on chest day, playing kickball is not a good warm-up on a day of tennis practice. The problem comes when you train by yourself as you might be doing unnecessary steps so make sure you ask a trainer for suggestions.

I will focus on the basic cardio warm-up here as this should always be done. So make a note of doing it before any kind of exercise!

• What to do exactly?

Bearing in mind the basic warm-up should be a whole-body cardio warm-up, my favourite methods to train outdoors are walking fast or jogging slow; and if you have a chance, ride a bicycle or run some laps around the field. However, when I teach my classes in the gym, I usually do some aerobic activity, for example, jump rope and jumping jacks, along with more static light exercise like push-ups and sit-ups.

This gets blood flowing all over since all areas of the body are used in a sport.

• For How Long?

The answer is, “It depends.” For one thing, it depends on the shape you are in, between 5-10 minutes is typically all you need to get your body ready for working out.

Beginners should warm up for about 10 minutes, while more advanced “workout kings” can afford to cut that down to only 5 minutes.

Even just a two-minute warm up, however, is a lot better than not warming up at all, encouraging you to not skip the warm up phase entirely just because you are short on time!

If you are one of those who do not like to be constricted by time, do your warm up until your body starts to feel literally “warmer” and your heart rate is slightly above normal. No point in getting tired during the warm up… but ready enough to enjoy what should be a pleasant workout.

• Why?

Here are the benefits:

1. Prepares your heart gradually for an increase in activity and the impending exertion. Since the heart is responsible for pumping oxygen-rich blood throughout the body, a warm-up allows the heart ample time to adjust to the body’s increasing demand for oxygen, essential to prevent you from getting out of breath too early or too easily.
2. Your body temperature will increase, and that can allow you to work out harder or longer, due to spike oxygen-delivering activity and flushes your body with healthy oxygen essential to an effective workout session.
3. Helps you avoid a rapid increase in blood pressure. At the same time, the blood flow increases, making the muscles warmer, pumped and more elastic, able to do an effective workout session.
4. Prompts hormonal changes in the body responsible for regulating energy production.
5. Improves performance. Why? It makes the nerves more sensitive, which means that warming up boosts your motor skills, allowing for better coordination and reaction time.
6. Significantly reduces the chance of injury, especially soft tissues (ligament, tendon and muscle) injuries by allowing your muscles to move through a greater range of motion easily and safely.
7. Lubricates your joints for easier and less painful movement.
8. Most importantly, it helps mentally prepare you for the workout ahead, as the mind is the main motor responsible for controlling the body. The warm-up will give you a few minutes to get “pumped up” for a great workout!

Did I convince you? Just do it! It will be fun, and your body will thank you afterwards and in the long term!