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You might be tempted to skip the warm-up when you work out. After all, you only have so much time to exercise—“Let’s just get on with it already! I’m in a hurry!”

 

However, warming up is a crucial component of your fitness routine, and skipping it can have unpleasant and even dangerous consequences, such as muscle strain, injury, and pain.

Oh, and a proper warm-up will improve your workout performance!

 

A warm-up is a short workout period at the beginning of your exercise session. It is generally low intensity and prepares your body for the upcoming exertion.

 

The purpose of a traditional warm-up is to increase your heart rate slightly. This raises your core body temperature and increases the blood flow to your muscles. Cold muscles and other connective tissues do not stretch very easily. A warm-up session prepares them physically and mentally, making them more supple and ready to work.

 

Without a warm-up, you will be more susceptible to sprained muscles, cramps, and injury. Ultimately, these effects could prevent you from exercising for an extended period as you recover, which is not conducive to the healthy lifestyle you desire. It takes approximately three minutes for your body to recognize that it needs to increase blood flow to your muscles, so the ideal warm-up time is between five and ten minutes.

 

There is no set prescription for what your warm-up should consist of. You can choose a set of preparatory exercises (such as leg lowering, windmills, pulsed planks, etc.) or opt for a light-intensity version of your upcoming workout (a brisk walk to prepare for a run, for example, or lifting light weights before increasing the load).

 

The Warm Up: Advanced Strategy

Now with all that being said about a “basic” warm-up, let me share with you how I prepare myself, as well as every one of my personal training clients.

For long-term health and fitness combined with your weight loss training efforts, it’s imperative to understand that a proper warm-up is about more than just “warming up the body.” It’s about preparing the body for an all-out training assault that’s going to boost your metabolism through the roof.

 

Therefore, we look at the warm-up as a Preparation Phase for the workout to come. Through research and practical experience, we’ve determined that the best results are typically seen when an exercise prep routine incorporates three key components:

Tissue Quality
Corrective Exercise
Mobility & Activation
Almost all chronic joint pain or overuse injuries are caused by tightness and restrictions in the muscles above and below the joint in question. In other words, it’s not about PAIN SITE… It’s about PAIN SOURCE!

Restrictions in the tissue of your calves and front, inner, and outer thighs often cause knee pain. Restrictions in your glutes and hamstrings often cause back pain. Shoulder pain is often caused by restrictions in your thoracic spine (T-Spine), chest, and lats.

 

Tissue quality describes the general health of your muscles and the interconnected web of fascia that surrounds them all. Over time, we develop scar tissue, adhesions, knots, and trigger points due to high-intensity training, overuse, and/or extended periods of sitting.

The best way to address this is to self-massage sore, tight, and restricted muscle groups of the body to regenerate tissue both before and after workouts, promoting injury reduction and allowing for a smoother, more productive workout.

 

Additionally, self-massage before stretching enables a more effective and complete stretch by smoothing out knots. You should always precede flexibility work with tissue quality for the best results.

 

Massage is one of those counterintuitive things whereby you are actively seeking out pain. In fact, it’s the only time ever to do so when it comes to proper training.

The best analogy I can give you is this:

If it hurts that much when you put pressure on your muscles, imagine how bad your joints must feel!

 

Corrective Exercise

We all have unique “issues” with our body mechanics and functional movement capabilities. For some, it’s a lack of flexibility, while for others, there may be a balance or mobility issue. Perhaps there’s an asymmetry – one side is significantly “stronger” than the other, leading to muscular imbalances, postural distortions, and overcompensation injuries. You can determine your individual corrective needs by undergoing a movement screen, such as the Functional Movement Screen (FMS).

 

The FMS is a ranking and grading system that documents movement patterns essential to normal function. By screening these patterns, the FMS readily identifies functional limitations and asymmetries. These are issues that can reduce the effectiveness of functional training and physical conditioning, as well as distort body awareness.

 

The FMS generates the Functional Movement Screen Score, which is used to target problems and track progress. This scoring system is directly linked to the most beneficial corrective exercises to restore mechanically sound movement patterns.

 

Exercise professionals monitor the FMS score to track progress and identify exercises that will be most effective in restoring proper movement and building strength in each individual.

 

So, in a nutshell, the FMS is designed to

Identify functional limitations and asymmetries that have been associated with an increased risk of injury.
Provide exercises to restore proper movement and build stability, mobility, and strength in each individual.
Mobility & Activation

More than just a typical warm-up, a mobility and activation circuit truly prepares your body for a maximum performance workout.

Mobility describes the ability of a joint, or a series of joints, to move through an ideal range of motion. Although mobility relies on flexibility, it requires an additional component of strength, stability, and neuromuscular control to allow for proper movement. Activation is often paired with mobility because many mobility exercises activate key, and usually dormant, pillar stabilizers in your hips, core, and shoulders.

 

More Than Just a Warm-Up…

So, as you can see, a warm-up is much more than just a warm-up when you’re training smarter for long-term health, fitness, and fat loss goals.

Think twice before you skip the “warm-up” in your next workout…