Warm Up For Cardiovascular Exercise
Part 4: Warm Up Routine
When athletes and exercise enthusiasts talk about their warm-up, they should actually be calling it their warm-up routine. The term ‘warm-up’ automatically assumes a singular activity, whereas a ‘warm-up routine’ is seen as a series of activities that should be able to warm-up your body properly. We all want our workouts to be as efficient and effective as possible, and one way to increase these chances is to develop and perform a warm-up routine before every exercise session.
A complete warm-up routine can look something like this:
1) General Warm-Up: Light jogging or fast walking to get your heart rate up slowly and to warm-up your muscles for stretching. (5 to 15 minutes)
2) Static Stretching: Stretching the areas of your body that will be the focus of your workout for 15 to 30 seconds each. (5 to 15 minutes)
3) Sport-Specific Dynamic Stretching: Stretch muscles and warm up the joints by performing gentle swing-like movements and stretches that mimic your intended activity.
(5 to 15 minutes)
Let's take a closer look at each phase of the warm-up routine:
Click here to learn about: The General Warm-Up
Click here to learn about: Static Stretching
Click here to learn about: Sport-Specific Dynamic Stretching
Determining Post Warm-Up Target Heart Rate:
A post warm-up target heart rate is the rate you want your heart to be at before beginning your workout. This step is not directly related to a warm up routine, but it's always good to monitor your heart rate to determine your heart's output.
Click here to learn about: Post Warm-Up Target Heart Rate
Develop a Personalized Warm-Up Routine:
All of our bodies perform at different levels, and not everyone benefits from the same things. Likewise, it is important to customize and personalize your own warm-up routine to best suit your individualistic needs. Only you know how your own body works, so this is an encouragement to develop your own warm-up routine, so you can decrease your risk of injury and improve your overall performance.
The Juice
We all know that time is the most valuable thing we all do not have enough of. Warm-ups can take up a significant portion of your valuable exercise time, but always keep in mind that in the end, the juice will be worth the squeeze.
