Warming up is not stretching.
Let’s take a closer look at what it is, if it’s not stretching.
Warming up has many purposes.
It provides a smooth transition from the resting state to the higher level of energy expenditure and effort you experience in the main part of your workout.
It also raises your heart rate from its resting state gradually and safely in order to prepare your heart for more demanding activity.
It prepares you physiologically and psychologically for physical performance and also lessens the possibility of injury.
–A proper warm-up raises your body and muscle temperature, can stretch your tissues permitting greater flexibility, and prepares your joints permiting greater mobility.
–The time needed for a satisfactory warm-up varies from person to person and tends to increase with age. This depends on how fast your body takes to feel loose and break a steady sweat. For most people this is usually 5-15 minutes.
–The colder the weather, the longer the warm-up.
–General ideas for warming up are jogging or easy running, stationary biking, rowing or other light aerobic activity. You need sufficient duration and intensity without developing fatigue.
–The nature of the warm-up varies in some degree in relation to the activity.
You want to simulate as close as you can the physical activity you’re about to engage in. Many exercises and athletes use stationary biking with minimal resistance as their warm-up. It raises your heart rate gently and loosens up your entire lower body.
So, make the most of your warm-up!
shelli
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