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Warm-ups And Stretches - Safety Precautions Before Any Physical Activities

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Many are unaware of the importance of doing warm-ups before they start exercising. In fact, quite a number often skip this routine. Warm-ups might seem to be a waste of time for many, however, it is actually one of the more important components as it will safeguard against potential injuries.

Warm-ups are done to stretch your muscles and lubricate your joints. In doing this it is made possible to avoid injury and also discomfort and muscle soreness. However, if you over do your exercise routine you can still become sore the morning after. Warm-ups are not your free pass from exercise discomfort. It is just to aid in minimizing injury and discomfort as well as slowly ease your body into the exercise routine.

As you exercise your internal temperature will rise. If you do warm-ups prior to exercising your body will slowly raise in temperature as opposed to rising at an elevated rate, which can cause dizziness and possibly fainting. For the fullest most beneficial workout it is vital to warm-up prior to your workout.

Warm-ups are done to ease your body into the exercise routine. Thus, you are warming up your body. This is very similar to cooking in an oven. Using the analogy of warming up the oven before baking a cake, the same mindset applies to workouts: Warm up your muscles before working out. By raising your body temperature slowly, it allows an opportunity for muscles to expand and there is an increase in blood flow to muscles, reducing discomfort the next day.

An ideal warm-up is going to increase your heart rate, increase metabolism and add to your respiratory capacity. In doing this your body is able to better adjust to the workout you are preparing for. Joints will have reduced friction and this helps to lessen chances of sprains for demanding exercises.

It really is not important the individual sport or reason for your exercising, it is important for all activities to maintain proper care of your muscles, joints and cardiovascular system. This way, you can be sure that you will hit your peak performance with less risk of injury or sprains.

Warm-ups should not be done at a fast rate. They are done in order to slowly prepare your body for a more vigorous workout. A session lasting approximately 15 minutes is adequate. Begin with some stretches of the muscles that you will be using. If running is the preferred exercise, begin by walking before upping it to a jog before you run. Slowly ease yourself into the harder workout.

If you are going to be playing a sport or doing another activity that will help you top burn calories you should do the same movements at a slower pace.

For example, when playing tennis you know you be swinging your arms quickly while you are running. A warm-up activity for such exercises can include stretches for your limbs, back and shoulders.

Move around and swing your limbs, pretending that you are into the game. This will help to lubricate the joints in your shoulders and prevent unnecessary injuries to yourself. Usually, in doing this you will notice your range of motion has been increased and your flexibility is improved.

Article Source: http://www.articlemanual.com

Moses Wright is a health conscious webmaster and loves to exercise to keep fit whenever he can. He sets up this site to help people learn more about stretching exercises and how to keep fit.



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