No matter what kind of workout plan you follow at the gym, one thing you can never say no to is warmup exercises.
Warmup is intended to get your body ready to perform heavy duty exercises without suddenly exposing it to all the handwork. Warmup should leave the body both heated up and loose so that the body is receptive of other exercises.
A dynamic warm-up is the best sort of warmup if you are planning to hit the gym right after. Avoid extended static warmup exercises to minimize the chances of injuries.
Using high quality weight bench to perform exercises once you are done with warmup exercises would help maintain a sturdy posture. With that being said, here’s an effective warm-up routine with specific exercises that you can follow right before you go to the gym.
Loosen up your body
The very first thing you should be doing as a part of your warmup routine is to loosen up your joints. As you start with your gym routine, you would want to make sure your joints are in a position to move so much or take so much pressure from gym equipment.
For this, stretching your arms, legs, and twisting your hips, circular movements, etc. would help you. Others among static warmup and stretching are- neck tilts, neck rotations, chest expansion, side arm raise, arm rotations, and side to side hops.
Since these are all warm-up exercises and most of them are stretching your body parts to leave your joints freer, you don’t have to perform each of the stretching exercises for more than 20 seconds.
As you make progress, you can also include bouncing on the spot, light punches, and light row turning kicks and front kicks in your routine. These are not entirely static stretching exercises but moderately dynamic.
Get your dose of cardio
Cardio is considered an essential form of warming up because it warms up the muscles as there is increased blood flow. As you start with your cardio routine, go easy on yourself. The easiest cardio exercise that you can do is running.
However, make sure you run at a moderate pace, not like you are racing. Besides running and jogging, you can also go for cycling, swimming, or jumping rope. No matter whichever form of exercise you choose, make sure you go for a low impact and low resistance form of it.
Get to dynamic stretching
Dynamic stretches are quite an essential part of your warmup exercise regime. While static exercises would help you loosen up your joints and give your joints more mobility, dynamic stretching would help enhance your performance.
Dynamic stretching exercises, like high kicks, knee to chest, leg swings, leg crossovers, t-pushups is good before you start your regular gym workout routine. You can do about 10 to 20 reps of these exercises.
Gradually increase the intensity
First things first, you have to be wise about the intensity of your warmup. If you have just begun, go easy on yourself. Start off with basic stretching exercises without putting your body through torture.
As you start slowly and perform warmup exercises that resonate with your main workout exercises, you are helping your muscles practice and memorize movements.
This helps in creating muscle memory when your muscles adapt to the movements. If you are not sure about the exercises, you would want to perform, and you can also talk it out with your gym instructor.
These days, most gym instructors come up with a workout routine that also includes warmup exercises. These are some of the tips using which you can go about planning your warmup routine.
While a high-quality weight bench would help you practice weight lifting, you can also count on them for certain warmup exercises. Increasing the intensity gradually is very important, since your muscles would need a certain amount of time and efforts to get used to the regime.
A good workout plan coupled with a practical warmup routine and a controlled diet is all you need to keep a check on your weight and shed as much as you want over time. And if you are in a state of confusion, going to your gym instructor is always a good idea.
