Warm-up benefits: Warming up is important to allow your body to move in full range of motion
Highlights
- Athletes and sportsperson need to warm-up for longer duration
- You warm-up the muscles you are going to use in the day's workout
- Warm-up can reduce joint stiffness and improve range of motion
Warm-up benefits: Warm-up is done before exercising or a workout routine. It is referred to the process of preparing your body for exercising or physical exertion. Fitness experts are of the opinion that warming up is an important of preparing your body for exercising, reducing joint stiffness and injury. Warming up is not the same as stretching. Usually, it involves low-intensity cardiovascular exercises like walking or jogging. You usually warm-up the muscles you are going to use for your fitness routine on the particular day. Doing low-intensity warm-up exercises before your workout routine can gradually increase heart rate and blood circulation, helping you prepare better for high-intensity exercise. Warming up increases your body temperature and improves your exercise performance.
Warm-up benefits: Why is warming up important?
We speak to celebrity fitness expert Vinod Channa who elaborates on the importance of warming up before exercising. He says, "After long working hours or sitting for 8 hours or more, your body becomes stiffer. Warming up is important to allow your body to move in full range of motion, without facing much difficulty or muscle wear and tear."
Warming up can improve your exercise performance
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He goes on to add that warm-up benefits include reducing risk of injury and helping you perform better in terms of exercising. It is when your joints are stiff that you don't feel like exercising or even moving. This is especially true in winter.
Also read: Try This Recovery Routine If Sore Muscles Are Giving You A Hard Time
Knees, elbows and shoulders are under-utilised joints in people in desk jobs. "A little conditioning workout or warm is important to enable them to exercise without any difficulty. It makes you feel fresher and prepare for your target fitness goal," says Vinod.
It is important to know that duration of warm-up is going to different for athletes and sportspersons, than others. Athletes and sportspersons need at least 20-25 minutes of warm-up, informs Vinod, who trains the likes of John Abraham and Shilpa Shetty Kundra.
Also read: Celebrity Trainer Vinod Channa: How Shilpa Shetty Lost 32 Kg Post Pregnancy
"John Abraham does a warm-up for 15-20 minutes and Shilpa Shetty warms up for 10 minutes every time before a workout. John's workout involves heavy lifting and that's why his warm duration is more," Vinod tells DoctorNDTV while adding that most common form of warm-up is dynamic warm-up which involves jogging, walking, etc. There is also static warm-up which involves rotational movements like neck rotation, shoulder rotation, ankle rotation, knee rotation etc.
Before you exercise, make sure you give at least 10 minutes to warm-up your body, preparing it to perform better in the workout routine to follow.
Here's a warm up workout routine shared by celebrity fitness expert Kayla Itsines.
And just like warm up, cooling down after you complete is equally important. Wait till we talk about that in another article. Happy Monday everyone!
Also read: Exercising At This Time Can Double The Amount Of Fat Loss In Overweight Men
Disclaimer: This content including advice provides generic information only. It is in no way a substitute for qualified medical opinion. Always consult a specialist or your own doctor for more information. NDTV does not claim responsibility for this information.