Find out how, with the help of a competent warm-up, you can increase the results of sports achievements and work out muscle mass as efficiently as possible. Each of your lessons must necessarily begin with a warm-up. Do not assume that this is a waste of time. The warm-up is of great importance and must be of good quality. Only then can you avoid injury. Today we will talk about a set of warm-up exercises.
What is a warm-up and what is it for?
A warm-up is a set of special tools designed to prepare the body for the upcoming stress, as well as reducing the risk of injury. Our body is quite inert and is not able to quickly readjust to a new mode of operation. This is one of the main reasons for getting injured while playing sports.
Performing a set of warm-up exercises, you tune your musculoskeletal system for future workouts. This allows you to establish a qualitative relationship between all systems and organs of your body. Most often, the warm-up consists of two stages: general and special. At the first stage, it is necessary to perform exercises that speed up the metabolism and warm up the body. They increase the efficiency of the vascular system and heart muscle, ventilate the lungs and increase the body's ability to absorb oxygen. It is necessary to work at this stage until the sweat appears. Only in this case can you achieve the required level of thermoregulation of the body. Since the muscles will be warmed up after the warm-up, they will be able to contract more actively and this will significantly reduce the risk of injury.
A special stage of warm-up helps to prepare the musculoskeletal system for a specific type of activity. During this period, it is necessary to perform special movements that allow you to improve conditioned reflex connections in order to increase the degree of coordination of your movements during training.
As we have already said, the start of the process of sweating and slight reddening of the skin serves as a signal to complete the set of warm-up exercises. Warm-up should start with breathing exercises, smoothly moving on to warming up.
A set of exercises for warm-up
All exercises given in this complex should be performed 8-15 times.
Warm up the neck muscles
- Exercise 1: The legs are set at the width of the shoulder joints, and the hands are on the waist. Look forward and start shaking your head to the sides.
- Exercise 2: The starting position is the same as in the previous exercise. Bend your head back and forth.
- Exercise 3: Without changing the starting position, you should combine the previous two movements by rotating your head. Make 15 turns in each direction.
Warm up the muscles of the shoulder girdle and arms
- Exercise 1: Legs are shoulder-width apart, eyes are in front of you, and arms are lowered along the body. Begin to perform circular movements with the shoulder joints back and forth.
- Exercise 2: The starting position is the same as in the previous exercise. Rotate your hands back and forth.
Spine warm-up
- Exercise 1: Your feet are shoulder-width apart, and your arms are locked in front of you. Inhaling air, start raising your arms as high as possible. The movement of the hands in the opposite direction is carried out on exhalation.
- Exercise 2: The starting position is similar to the previous movement, but the arms are not in the lock, but are extended forward. Bend them at the elbow joints and, inhaling, spread them as wide as possible, while bringing the shoulder blades together.
Warm up the chest muscles
- Exercise 1: The legs are at the level of the shoulder joints. Begin to spread your arms out to the sides without using your hip.
- Exercise 2: Take the same starting position as in the previous movement, and then begin to perform bends to the sides and forward, trying to reach the ground with your hands.
Warm up the lumbar back
The legs are at the level of the shoulder joints, and the arms are lowered along the body. The chin should be at the level of the ribcage, and you should kind of curl inward. After that, turn the body to the sides.
Warm up before working on the stationary bike and treadmill
- Exercise 1: Stand on your left leg and begin to perform forward bends, fixing the position of your hands on a hill. Repeat the movement for the right leg.
- Exercise 2: Do squats. Downward movement is performed on inhalation, and upward movement is performed on exhalation.
- Exercise 3: The legs are at the level of the shoulder joints, and the arms are at the waist. Perform forward lunges alternately on each leg. Try to get as low as possible. It is also necessary to ensure that the heel is always pressed to the ground and does not come off.
Check out the effective warm-up workout in this story:
