Warm Yourself Up!

When I first started my fitness journey running was my drug of choice. I remember training for my first ½ Marathon back in my mid-20’s and I rarely, if ever, warmed up. I put my running shoes on, walked out the door and started running. Occasionally, if I was super tight, I might have spent a few seconds doing some toe touches or something similar.

As I embrace my 40’s, I now budget a healthy amount of time before every workout warming-up. I NEVER go into a workout cold. I may spend a little less time doing things I would usually do but I always make sure my body is ready to put any kind of load on it.

Warming-up has allowed me to workout efficiently and safely for my body.

I know budgeting extra time on your workout might seem like a total inconvenience but I can promise you, your workouts would more effective and your body would feel better.

Your warm-up does not need to be long, complicated or boring.

My general rule of thumb for almost all of my workouts is the following:

1. 2-5mins of foam rolling-This is not static. I am rolling my entire body to get fluid moving and bring sensation to the skin to wake things up. If I find something really tight I might stay there for a second but not much more. I save the longer foam rolling sessions for after my workout or in between workouts.

2. 2-3mins of cardio-This can be standing in place and doing high knees or jumping jacks or jumping on a piece of cardio equipment for a few mins.

3. 2-3 Mobility exercises-These are also not static. Your body is not primed for holding long stretches or movements yet. These exercises are just to start moving the joints in their natural range of motion and to get the blood flow going.

4. 3-5 activation exercises-These are to start firing up the muscles that you will be using in your workout. I usually like to have one exercise for all my major muscle groups. A glute, upper body and core exercise are a great combo to make sure the correct muscles are primed for the exercises/load you are about to take on.

My workouts start very early which means I give myself a little extra time to get my body moving. It has been in a static, supine position for a long time and it needs a chance to wake up. You may think if you workout after work that you don’t need as much time before but you most likely have been sitting for long periods throughout the day (same thing).

Once you get in the routine of warming-up, you will find it goes much quicker. You will know what you need to do and how to do it so it becomes plug and play. The hard part is just allowing yourself enough time initially to start adding it to your routine.

Try using the above outline this week to start warming up effectively…I promise you wont regret it! If you need some direction you know where to find me! 😃 

Onward and upward my friends….