Warming-Up
You may have had a gym teacher, coach, or personal trainer go on and on about the importance of a proper warm-up before a workout or race. But your time is precious- maybe you only have 45 minutes to get a workout in before you have to get back to the office. In order to make the most of our minutes in the gym, many of us tend to skip the warm-up and get right down to business. But without a proper warm-up, you could be setting yourself up for injury: studies have shown that some of the benefits of warming up are an increase in core temperature and circulation—both of which can help make tight muscles more pliable and make movement more efficient, thereby reducing the risk of injury. Anecdotal evidence suggests that warming up helps increase focus and mental preparedness. For instance, if you are about to perform a deadlift at a moderate to heavy weight for a low number of repetitions, warming up prior to deadlifting can help you ease into the movement, helping you to feel more comfortable and capable at a higher weight.
Warming up is a widely accepted and generally encouraged practice. But most generally active people have no idea what to do for a warm-up—so they typically end up not warming up at all. On top of that, how long does a warm up need to be in order to gain the benefits? And how do you know if you’re “warmed up” anyway?
During my time as a rower, a coach of mine had a saying: “don’t rush the warm-up.” Years later, this saying has taken on a few nuances that have changed how I treat warming up.
1.) Don’t rush the warm-up. Seriously. Take your time and keep the intensity relatively low to start. If you’re prepping for a 3 mile run or jog (which would take about 27 minutes for someone running at a 9 minute/mile pace), do not immediately hit the pavement and expect to hold top speed. Besides entirely defeating the purpose of a warm-up, you may find it difficult to reach and feel comfortable at a quick pace, particularly if you’ve been seated for most of the day. Giving yourself 5-7 minutes to do some dynamic stretching and walking or light jogging before your run will help increase the blood flow to the muscles that you’re about to use and prime them for more intense activity. Similarly, if you were going to bench press, doing exercises that mimic the bench press (such as a pushup) and a couple of light sets using controlled motion will serve you much better than jumping right to the weight you remember doing 5 reps with last week.
2.) Give yourself time to actually warm up (and, see #1, don’t rush it!) We’re all guilty of showing up to the gym for a workout or personal training session right on time, because life happens. But, if you’re like most Americans and spend most of your day at a desk, get to the gym with time to spare. While there isn’t much decisive research regarding how long a warm-up must be in order to be effective, most people agree on about ten minutes of light, movement specific activity—you should break a sweat, but you shouldn’t feel as though you’ve reached maximum exertion. Ten minutes is not a hard and fast rule, either, as some people may need more or less time to feel their core temperature rise, depending on factors such as age or outside temperature. If you can, ask your trainer about what he or she has programmed for your session so that you can do movements that are specific to the kinds of movements you will be training.
3.) Pay attention to how you’re feeling. That nagging hip/back/shoulder injury being especially annoying today? Feeling sluggish because you got three hours of sleep last night? Your warm-up can also function as your time to do a total body-scan to figure out how you feel once you get moving. Is the calf cramp you felt going downstairs this morning beginning to subside within the first few minutes of your warm-up? Good, but monitor it at your discretion. Does your shoulder bother you just doing a modified pushup, when you can normally do a dozen regular ones? You may need to alter your workout for the day or train around it. If you work with a trainer, a warm up is a good opportunity to gauge together how you are feeling, particularly if you have a lingering injury.
So, the next time you find yourself at the gym, or getting ready for a session with your trainer, don’t forget the warm up. You’ll move better, and your mind as well as your muscles will be prepared for the demands of whatever your workout entails.
-Maria Capuano, NASM Personal Trainer