Throughout the years, I have seen too many people jump right into their workout without any kind of a warm-up. I myself am guilty of having done this in my youth. I can remember many a time entering the weight room, heading for the heaviest pair of dumbbells I could handle, or loading up as much as weight as possible on the barbell, and start “banging away” on the exercises of the day.
It’s a wonder I didn’t tear or pull a muscle back then. Ahh… to be young again.
The older and more experienced I got, the more I learned and realized the importance of the warm-up.
Why is it important? Think of your body as a car. You don’t just start the car and immediately floor it and race around town. You’re bound to blow the engine that way.
Same thing with your body. By jumping right into lifting weights or even doing any bodyweight exercises without first warming the body up, you’re elevating the risk of suffering an injury.
There are countless ways to warm-up for a workout, and it doesn’t have to take too long, 10 minutes is usually adequate.
One of the simplest ways is to walk on the treadmill for 10 minutes at a moderate pace. That should be just enough time to get the blood going, increase the heart rate, and lower the risk of serious injury.
Furthermore, if lifting really heavy weight, it’s advisable to build up to that heavier weight as you work out, progressively loading more weight as you go.
For example, if you’re bench pressing and your working poundage is 225 lbs, it’s a good idea to do 2 or 3 warm-up sets with a lighter weight before getting to that 225lbs. That would look like this: 1st set of 90lbs, 2nd set of 140lbs, 3rd set of 190lbs. Then jump into your working sets of 225lbs. and do the desired number of sets and reps.
Your muscles and joints will have been more properly warmed up and better able to handle the weight.
“But 10 minutes of walking and then adding warm-up sets, too? I don’t have that kind of time and my workouts are already taking too much time as is!” I hear you objecting.
The warm-up shouldn’t be done in addition to your workout, it should be considered a part of the workout so it should be counted as your workout time. To be more clear, if you normally workout for 45 minutes, 10 minutes should be warming up and the other 35 can be for your workout.
And if you feel that’s not enough time under stress for your muscles to achieve the results you’re after, then workout longer, just be sure to warm-up first.
Look at it like this… the 10 minutes or so that you spend warming up now can save you months of suffering if you don’t warm up and suffer a serious injury. Spend the extra time now, do a proper warm-up and get the most out of your body and workouts.
Next month I’ll be launching the “Members Only” section of this website and one of the first videos I’ll be posting is of my daily warm-up. If you’re one of those wise enough to become a member and gain the honor of being called a “Golden One”, you’ll get access to this and many other videos, audios and exclusive information I only share with those on the inside. It’s uncensored and I talk about it all with my stable of “Golden Ones”, so don’t hesitate to sign up once memberships are open.
Until next time…
Always Activate. Get Going.
