Warming up

Picture by hisashi_0822

“You ever see a lion limber up before it takes down a gazelle?”

“Huh... well, have you...” say the anti-warm up brigade as they jab you in the ribs, smug in the apparent impenetrable logic of their argument.

To start off with, well, no, I haven’t.  A lot of this answer owes to the fact that I have never seen a lion in the wild though, and zoos tend to separate them.

Secondly, I believe this is a quote from Zombieland.  As important as I believe zombie films are to the cultural richness of our society, I don’t tend to use them as a scientific source of reference (except when planning my zombie apocalypse survival strategy obviously).

Also, I find that lions don’t tend to sit in one position for 8+ hours slumped over a computer, or spend evenings slouched in front of a TV.  As a result postural defects, chronically tight muscles and activity related injuries are unsurprisingly more common in the species that do.

Finally, they are cats.  If they are anything like the cats I have come across, stretching is not uncommon.  It is just an everyday thing they do, as they meander around demanding food and taking your seat to have another nap on.

So, why should we warm up?

Firstly, to get your joints moving.  Bones rubbing against each other stimulates the release of synovial fluid, which is like the oil that keeps the joint running smoothly.  This movement also causes friction which generates heat to warm up the synovial fluid.  The fairly viscous fluid then becomes increasingly free flowing.  As a result the joint will suffer less wear, and you can gradually build up the range of movement while warming up.

You also start to raise your pulse rate, and allow your heart time to gradually increase how much blood it pumps out.  Particularly if you are newer to exercise, you will also avoid placing undue strain on your heart by gradually increasing intensity.

Blood vessels start to dilate, allowing an increase in blood carrying nutrients and oxygen to the muscles in preparation for the workout.  The blood will also increase the temperature in the muscles, which will allow nerve impulses to travel faster to and from the muscles.  This is especially important for activities requiring motor skills.

The stretching component allows you to start moving muscles to their full range.  These stretches should only be held for 6-10 seconds, as you don’t want to start cooling down too much while doing them.  The aim isn’t to develop flexibility, this is getting the muscles moving and also allows you to feel where any tightness is in your body before you start anything more strenuous, and so can be mindful of potential injuries.

A standard warm up usually takes less than 5 minutes.  Use this time to guard against injuries, and really get the most out of your workout.  

If you are not sure what to do - try this routine to get you started that I put together with Champion.