My Basic Warm-up Routine

Nov 27, 2011 by Tatianna

My Basic Warm-up

I wanted to share my basic warmup routine that I do every time before my workouts. Since all of my workouts are very intense the warm-up has to be longer then you would normally do for a regular moderate workout. First I wanted to share a quote from a book ” Supertraining” :

“The warm-up serves to raise the body to the necessary work capacity. The warm-up comprises of two types: general and specific. The purpose of the general warm-up is to increase the functional potential of the body as a whole, whereas the purpose of the specific warm-up is to establish the optimal relationship between the forthcoming movements. A work-capacity increase via the warm-up is determined both by central nervous and muscular system changes”.

As I explained in the video, you should always perform the basic warm-up followed by workout specific movements in a very low load. This way you will get mentally and physically prepared for your training. Therefore each warm-up should be adjusted. During your warm-up for intensive training, you should develop light sweat, but the warm-up should be easy enough where you don’t get tired for your actual workout.

The benefits of a proper warm-up:

Increases the rate at which muscles contract
Increases electrical activity of a muscle
Increases in the amount of time that a muscle is able to maintain a contraction or series of contractions
Improves connective tissue ability to accept force
Prevents Injury
Improves metabolic adjustment to heavy work
Creates greater numbers of capillaries opened in the muscles

I can’t stress enough that your knees and your back is prone to injury’s the most, therefore your should place greater attention during a warm-up on your knees and back. The way I know that my knees are properly warmed up, is if I hear squeaking while I squat all the way down, then I will keep warming up until the squeaking is gone.

After a good warm-up you should feel energized and motivated to proceed with your workout!