Want To Learn 8 Reasons To Warm Up?

A few weeks back, I was working out with some friends at the gym doing CrossFit for the first time.

Before we began the work out, I did my normal warm up routine, and was asked by one of my friends who is somewhat of a novice when it comes to training, “What’s the benefits of warming up?”

He then pointed to the fact that my other friend who is in good shape and who is a physical education teacher at a local elementary school, was not warming up.

My novice friend was somewhat confused, to warm up or not to warm up, that was the question.

The question was then asked by my novice friend, “Do you think that his (“his” referring to the physical ed teacher)) not warming up before and after workouts will catch up with him later in life and cause him serious negative effects in the future?”

Both of these questions were very valid points and yet I didn’t really know what to tell my friend when it came to stretching and warming up.

I knew the basics around it, like supposedly it prevents injury and can improve performance, but even those were sort of regurgitated answers with really no knowledge or checking into on my part.

I just always did it because that’s what I was always taught.

It reminds me of a story that I once heard about a wife named Mary who wanted to impress her husband David by cooking her family’s traditional pot roast recipe.

The recipe was rather simple. It included a few slices of onions, some seasoning, a few slices of carrots, and slices of potatoes. As the husband watched his wife cut off the ends of the pot roast and place the remainder into the pan David asked, “Why do you cut the ends off?”

Mary replied as she laid the knife down and threw the cut ends of meat into the trash can, “I’m not sure, that’s the way it’s always been done.”

Several days later, Mary’s mom stopped by, and she remembered her husband’s inquisitiveness. “Mom, why does our family recipe for pot roast include cutting off the ends?”

A smile covered her mom’s face and she jumped upon the bar-stool. “I’m not sure that’s the way it’s always been done,” she replied.

Realizing the mystery was not solved and David would keep wondering why two grown women engaged in severing nice cuts of meat; she knew she had to cover the groundwork for this thirty-year plus puzzle. “Mom, let’s call Granny and ask,” Mary urged with excitement in her voice.

“Hello,” stretched across the phone lines and filled the silence in the kitchen. “Hi, Granny, this is Mary. I need to know why you cut the ends off your pot roast.” She dropped the phone into her mother’s hand and waited in silence. Their grandmother replied, “I don’t know why you do it but I cut off the ends so that it would fit into the oven.”

When it comes to warm ups and stretching it’s sort of like the above mentioned story.

We know we should do it, we just oftentimes, don’t know why.

Why We Warm Up & Stretch

Maybe a good synonym for warming up should be, preparation.

In anything we do, that we wist to perform at our very best, requires some form of preparation. This could come in the form of preparing the ingredients for a meal your are going to eat. It could also be preparing your speech before you go in front of hundreds of people to give a talk. There are numerous forms of warming up i.e. preparation that we do on a daily basis, we just call it something else.

Why would working out, be any different?

Instead of preparing a dish to be eaten or a speech to be given, we are preparing our bodies and our minds for an athletic event, that we are to partake in.

3 Types of Warm Ups

According to European Journal of Applied Physiology, there are three types of Warm Ups:

1. Passive warm-ups (e.g., taking a hot shower, having a rubdown, sitting in the sun) increase the body and skin temperatures and physiological reactions associated with heat removal.
2. General/non-specific warm-ups. Muscle temperature is increased in a more effective manner than that afforded by passive warm-ups.
3. Specific warm-ups. These produce major performance benefits if specific activities that simulate competition actions and intensities are included.

7 Types of Stretching

1. Ballistic stretching – uses the momentum of a moving body or a limb in an attempt to force it beyond its normal range of motion
2. Dynamic stretching – are designed to take a joint or a muscle through a challenging and repetitive motion.
   
3. Active stretching – requires the strength of the opposing muscle groups to hold the limb in position for the stretch.
   
4. Passive (or relaxed) stretching – are achieved as the name implies, through the use of mechanical devices, the assistance of gravity, or use of a partner.
5. Static stretching – are designed to hold a position for a joint or a muscle that is minimally challenging.
6. Isometric stretching – is a type of static stretching (meaning it does not use motion) which involves the resistance of muscle groups through tensing of the stretched muscles.
7. PNF (Proprioceptive Neuromuscular Facilitation) stretching – is a set of stretching techniques commonly used in clinical environments to enhance both active and passive range of motion with the ultimate goal being to optimize motor performance and rehabilitation

 7 Reasons To Warm Up

1. Rehearsal of movement (Preparation)  The psychological benefits from a proper warm-up are immeasurable. The athlete feels more confident as a result of proper planning and preparation via warm ups.
2. The prevention of injury.Soft tissue (tendons, ligaments, muscles) injuries are less likely with proper warm-up.
3. Elevation of body temperature Contraction and reflex times are improved with higher muscle temperatures.
4. The improvement of performance. Reduces incidence and likelihood of musculoskeletal injuries Enhances the speed of transmission of nerve impulses. Motor faculties improve greatly when you’re warmed up. Need proof? Get out of bed and run to the front door. You’ll probably bump into something, or worse, fall down. If you walked to the front door, and stretched. You could run like Forest Gump.
5. Supplies adequate blood flow to heart Exercising without warm-up places a potentially dangerous stress on the heart.  Warming up reduces the stress on the heart.
6. Prepares the cardiovascular system for impending workload. Helps the heart and blood vessels adjust to the body’s increased demands for blood and oxygen.
7. Prepares muscles for impending workload. Warming up may reduce the likelihood of excessive muscle soreness.
8. Help promote sweating. Remember: sweat is good. Sweating reduces the amount of heat stored in the body. Your body spends more energy cooling itself than through any other activity.

Warm Up Duration – Warm ups typically last between 5 to 10 minutes. But everyone is different some may require less time and others more time.

Warm Up Indications – By listening and monitoring your heart rate you will be able to know whether you have warmed up sufficiently.   A break of light sweat is also another good indicator of a sufficient warm-up.

Cool Downs –  Are just as equally important as the warm ups. The purpose, as the name implies, is to help you cool down the body from the previously rigorous exercise. The duration is normally about the same time as the warm ups, around 5-10 minutes.

Cool Down Indications –  Once the heart is a good indicator, if you know your heart rate, then it normally should be below 120 beats per minutes, however that varies depending on the person.

In conclusion, warming up (cooling down) is an essential part of any workout routine. This is one of the good habits, that must be formed. I warm up and cool down before each and every workout routine. It’s a great way to transition from the frenetic and hectic demands of the day and get focused on the task at hand.