The Importance of Warming Up and Doing It Correctly

Whether you go to ActiveSG, The Pit, or any gym for this matter, there will always be that one guy who heads to the weight rack directly and skips out on his warm-up. People like to do this, for some reason, but the importance of warming up cannot be stressed enough. From reducing muscles soreness, injury prevention, muscle and mind preparation, and etc., you simply should not skip your warm-ups.

Better blood circulation and oxygenation
Having a proper warm-up translates to better blood circulation all around the body. This also promotes better blood flow in and out of muscle tissues, particularly for the ones that will be active during a workout. Warming up also improves the delivery of oxygen through the blood, especially if you’re doing light cardio exercises. This facilitates better blood flow and the cleaning out of toxins left in the muscles.

You won’t gain muscles if you’re injured
This probably summarizes it all. The biggest reason why warming up is always recommended is because of injury prevention. When you’re all warmed up, it reduces the risk of you pulling a muscle. Imagine a situation where you skipped your warm up. On that day is your arm day, but because you didn’t warm up you suddenly tear your bicep mid-workout. As a result, you won’t be able to return to the gym for a while. You’ve now wasted time recovering instead of making gains.

Warming up properly
• Avoid static stretching
A common mistake people make is that they assume that stretching in place can be considered a warm-up. This is actually bad because stretching a “cold” muscle will cause its microfibers to tear, hindering your performance and weakening the muscle in the long run. Static stretching is better as a post-workout routine to reduce muscle soreness.

• Start slow
Essentially, it’s called a warm-up because you’re “warming up” the muscles before putting pressure on them. So if your lifting weights, of course you’re not going to lift heavy during your warm-up set. Start slowly from a lighter weight and gradually increase it during your warm up. By the time you get to your workout sets, your muscles will be ready.

• Work on mobility
The warm-up is also a time to practice your form and work on your mobility. As far as muscles are concerned, you can only get a good flex and stretch if your joints are able to hit the maximum range of motion. You won’t be able to achieve that if your joints are still stiff. Not only will this help you with flexible joints and limbs, but it also reduces the risk of injury, which really is the objective here.