Although it is a step that many skip in their sports routines, warming up is a key process to stimulate the muscles before starting any type of training or sports practice. They allow to prepare the body to perform sports, increasing its efficiency and allowing to prevent muscle injuries and in the different joints.
The warm-up can also be known as a small introduction to any type of exercise. Through some movements, which can be similar to training, we will activate all the muscle tissues that are going to execute this movement. Without going any further, in a bench press you start doing the same exercise but only with the bar, and without placing the desired weight. In this way, the muscles are activated and you begin to prepare to demand the subsequent breakage of fibers during training.
What are warm-up exercises?
General warm-up exercises are all those activities aimed at preparing all muscle groups for training, causing an increase in muscle temperature. Heating should be gradual and constant, to avoid any overload. The intensity must increase over time until you reach the point of maximum demand in training. The rhythm of the heart and respiratory system will also increase gradually, and in parallel, since the greater the demand in the exercises, more nutrients and oxygen will also be needed.
When warming up we will follow a logical structure, to activate the body for sports activity. Initially, we will start with cardiovascular exercises such as the treadmill, spinning or elliptical, to provide the muscles with a minimum temperature before starting the joint warm-up. The second phase is intended to warm up the different muscle groups in a more specific way. These are simply joint movements, which must be performed in a logical order (either ascending or descending). Finally, we will perform global stretches. This will allow you to get more elastic muscles to perform the training. Each exercise should last between six and 12 seconds, without feeling any pain or sudden movements.
The effects of global warming have a direct impact on the muscles, allowing an increase in their strength and performance. However, they also have consequences on the nervous system by increasing attention span and allowing better transmission of nerve impulses by improving coordination.
Benefits of warming up before sports
Warming up before sports is essential as an injury prevention work, and also to achieve the greatest possible efficiency in our muscle groups. However, the most prominent benefits of taking the trouble to perform general warm-up exercises are the following:
- Improves physical and physiological performance. The warm-up stimulates the muscles to get the most out of it and subject it to the maximum demand.
- In addition to muscle loading exercises, warming up also improves balance and coordination of muscles.
- In cardiovascular tests, such as running or cycling, performing warm-up exercises improves the heart or respiratory rate allowing greater endurance in exercise.
- Helps prevent injuries. The warm-up activates the muscles protecting all muscles and joints from possible ailments such as muscle contractures.
- In those explosion exercises, warming up is even more fundamental. Without activating the muscles, we can break at the first change and suffer an injury. In gym routines, there is a type of training known as ascending pyramid. In these exercises, those series with greater weight and fewer repetitions are performed first. Thus, you must warm up the muscle groups that we are going to work properly. Unlike the inverted pyramid, where you go from less weight to more, the most explosive exercises are performed in the initial phase increasing the risk of injury. Precisely, one of the purposes of general warming is to prevent us from falling into the dry dock.
How to perform general warm-up exercises
- There are different types of general warm-up, depending on the purpose and objective we have in our routine. The general warm-up, on which we will focus, prepares us for physical activity from low-intensity exercises. However, we can also perform a preventive warm-up if we are recovering from some type of injury, a more specific warm-up in some muscle groups or a dynamic warm-up where exercises that combine flexibility, strength, balance and coordination are performed.
- Any general warm-up will start with 15 minutes, which will be divided into three phases. The first will be intended for a five-minute action where it will include walking, continuous running or spinning. Next, stretching of the main muscles that have been worked in the anterior part will be performed. This first phase will be closed with five minutes of generic exercises such as jumps, abdominals, lumbar exercises … The second part will be directed to a more specific part, which will last ten minutes. In this phase we will already perform exercises directly related to the type of training we are going to carry out. For example, if we are going to train the pectorals, the exercises performed will be with these muscles. Also, if you are going to carry out a sports activity such as a basketball or football game, directly related exercises such as shots on goal or shots to the basket will be carried out. The ideal is to leave between 5 and 10 minutes of recovery, but they should never exceed 20 minutes, since in this case the effects of heating will begin to diminish.
- For a gym routine, we will also propose ten types of exercise ideal to start the training with maximum intensity. The first step is similar to the previous one. Between 5 and 10 minutes on the treadmill or on the bike will raise the body temperature and begin to activate the muscles and fibers. In case of not having any of these elements, it is also possible to perform the so-called star jumps. It consists of jumping at the same time that the legs are opened and the arms are raised. With about 20 jumps you will begin to warm up. Once any of these three exercises have been performed, we will continue with a jog without moving from the site for 30 seconds. Next, we will maintain the trot while raising the arms frontally, or laterally, and alternately performing 20 repetitions with each arm. We will finish the general warm-up, before moving on to the specific one, with push-ups (knees can be supported if desired), elbow and shoulder push-ups on the pulley and neck rotation. With these exercises, we will have a body ready to start our routine in the fitness room.
- A general warm-up is critical to achieving maximum muscle efficiency and preventing injury. It is as or more important than stretching at the end of the activity. There is no set time for warm-up, but it should always be between 15 and 50 minutes, always depending on the activity you want to do. Warming, however, should not exceed that: a simple warm-up. It must be done calmly if you want to fulfill the objective of the function. In the warm-up, you should never reach exhaustion or it could diminish our subsequent performance throughout the training, or the game we are going to play.