How You Should Warm Up Before Your Training Sessions
Hi Friends of Oompf, it’s Alvan here. Today we will be talking about the different kinds of warm up you can perform before a training session.
Warm ups are something you definitely should not neglect before your workout. When preparing for any kind of exercise, whether it’s a cardio workout, strength training, or sports, it’s important to take a few minutes to ease your muscles into ‘exercise mode’. Besides helping with prevention of injury, it prepares you for the activity you will be performing and improves your flexibility and range of motion.
Here are a few types of warmup you can do before your session:
1. Dynamic warmup/ Muscle activation A dynamic warmup consists of drills that involves moving a particular joint / your body through its full range. As compared to a static stretch that lengthens your muscle, dynamic warm up helps to activate the muscles you will be using and prepare you for a heavier load. Examples are Inch worm, hip circles and rotational lunge.
2. General warmup A general warmup is simply doing any form of activity that raises your heart rate and body temperature. When your muscles are warmed up, it improves your reflexes and lowers the time it takes to contract a muscle resulting in less injury. This can include activities such as walking on a treadmill, rowing or cycling on the exercise bike.
3. Specific warmup A specific warm up is a specified group of exercises you perform at low intensities to prepare you for a particular sport or activity. For example, if you are warming up to perform a barbell squat, a specific warm up would require you to perform the squat with a lighter weight.
4. Foam rolling Foam rolling can be considered a warm up as well as a cool down. When performed as a warm-up, the goal is to increase the blood flow to the muscles and get the most optimal range of motion so that you can perform exercises with proper form.
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