Here's the scenario. You are excited, you woke up early just to workout, and now you're ready to do your cardio exercise, but wait! Before you use the treadmill or the stationary bike, you might want to do your warm-up exercises first. In case you don't know, warm-up exercises are a must before anyone starts their strength or cardio exercise. And while warm-up exercises won't help you much in burning your calories, they are crucial to help you have a successful workout.
We’ve listed down the top reasons why warming up is really important, here they are:
It increases body temperature
Doing warm-ups will raise your body temperature, and this could be helpful to your muscles. How? When your temperature increases, the oxygen in your body becomes available for your muscle. This allows the muscle to contract and relax, and enables you to perform with ease when doing strenuous exercises. Additionally, you are giving your heart a chance to prepare when doing your warm-up exercises, so that it won't be too strained when you start your workout.
It prevents injuries
Having an injury while exercising is the last thing that we want to happen. Warming up reduces the risk of us having any type of injury since it improves the elasticity of our muscle, allowing efficient cooling of the body.
It increases your body's flexibility
Aside from the usual warm-up exercises, stretching is also vital before you start your workout since it increases your body's flexibility. It also increases blood flow to your muscle.
Once you've finished your warm-up exercise, don't forget to stretch as well.
It helps you prepare for heavy-duty equipment at the gym
Using heavy machines can definitely be dangerous especially if you don't prepare your body for it. Therefore, if you are planning to use any machine, make sure to loosen your joints first by warming up your body and stretching them.
The bottom line is warming up gently prepares your body for your workout by increasing the heart rate and circulation gradually. This will then loosen the joints, and increase blood flow to the muscles.
And apart from physically preparing your body, it also helps you prepare mentally for your workout. Most warm-up sessions are usually 20 minutes to 30 minutes; this is already enough to help the body prepare for a more rigid set of exercises.
Now, remember, start your exercise with a set of warming-up and stretching exercises. We know you got this!
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