Every time you get ready to work out, you have to make sure that your body is capable of doing what you’re going to be asking of it. If you were playing a game of basketball, you probably wouldn’t blow the whistle until everyone involved had taken a few practice shots.
Well, think of the various muscles throughout your body like the players on the basketball team. You can’t just storm the court and hope to compete at the highest level. It takes a little bit of time to warm everyone up so that the team is able to compete. Your muscles need this warming up so that your body will be able to compete in totality during the workout you’re having it undergo.
Men’s Fitness has released a new article that focuses on the five things that a warmup can help do. You may be feeling pretty good about where you are as an athlete, but you must never lose sight of the importance of these factors. Every minute you take away from a warmup is a minute you take away from optimum exercise.
When you warm up, you expand the potential range of motion your body is able to go through. If you just start lifting a set of weights without warming up, your body won’t react to it the way you want to. If you start to run without first stretching, you won’t get as much length out of your strides.
However, if you give your legs a few minutes to become mobile, suddenly you can go further than you could before. Your legs are ready to respond to potential shifts in the ground, and thus they won’t give out on you and cause an injury. You’ll be able to lift more weight more times, and you won’t be sore at the end of it. Plus, it will be far easier to reach the apex of a lift rather than coming close but not quite getting there.
There’s also a way in which your body is like a computer that you’re booting on. It’s sat dormant for awhile, but starting to stretch and conduct some light exercise is akin to you flicking the on switch. Your body realizes that it’s about to be called upon to exercise, and it will start loading all the applications on your personal hard drive that allow you to reap the most benefit. Warming up trains your body to expect a workout and shift resources accordingly.
Exercise is also going to be great for your joints. They’ll be more flexible and able to respond to the increased stress you’re asking of them. Without the warmup, they’ll remain in their dormant state, and you could put yourself at risk for injury.
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