Posts Tagged “warming up before exercise”

Warming up before exercise is critically important for you so as to not injure yourself or pull muscles like I did on the weekend. There are a few steps to good stretching and if you do these steps you will have a good workout and not have to fear that you are going to pull, teat, or stretch muscles and stay healthy instead.

1. Start off with a good walk, jog, or run. Whatever you do first. The cardio helps the blood and oxygen flow through your body. Always remember when you do cardio, start off slow and then increase your pace, then slow down towards the end to prevent the blood from rushing to the legs.
2. After you have warmed up is the only time that you should stretch. Stretching is a physical exercise that when done cold can lead to strains and muscle pulls (I can vouch for that just a week ago)
3. Stretch one arm across your chest. Make sure it is straight as you go across. This is very important. Do this twice on each arm. Hold 10 seconds each. This will stretch you upper back and your shoulders.
4. Lift your arm up over your head and touch your shoulder blade with your hand. Make sure everything is straight again to get all the benefits. Do twice on each arm, hold 10 seconds each. This stretch is to stretch all the muscles going down your sides as well as the triceps of your arm.
5. Stretch your neck side to side and down. Hold each for 10 seconds.
6. Do a child’s pose. Sit on your knees and bend down and stretch your arms out in front of you. This stretches the upper and lower back, as well as the arms.
7. Finally stretch you legs by holding your foot to your butt and stretching your quadriceps, put your heel on a chair or table and lean forward so that you stretch your hamstrings, for calves just lean against a wall and move one foot back a couple feet and try to bring your heal down.

These are all of the basic stretches that I try to do every day. If you are looking for agility and a wider range of motion in your everyday life you will find that these stretches in no time at all will help.