The Best Way To Warm Up For Exercise

Warming up prior to any physical activity does a number of beneficial things, but primarily its main purpose is to prepare the body and mind for more strenuous activity.

An effective warm up also has the effect of increasing both heart and respiratory rate, thereby increasing blood flow. Increased blood flow increases the delivery of oxygen and nutrients, helping to prepare the soft tissues for more strenuous activity.

Obviously, it is important to start with the easiest and most gentle activity first, building upon each part with more energetic activities, until the body is at a physical and mental peak.

The 'new' theory about warm ups is that we should replace the old generalist approach with a much more dynamic, focused routine, specifically tailored to our chosen sport. The various drills we employ need to warm up our muscles specifically for the movements that will be required of them in the activity to follow.

A dynamic warm up coordinates all of your moving parts-muscles, ligaments, and joints-by challenging your flexibility, mobility, strength and stability all at once; because that's what you ask of yourself when you run, right?! Doing so is pivotal in getting you to the finish line as fun, fast and pain-free as possible.

Instead of warming up for 5-10 minutes before training and then stretching for 5-10 minutes, this allows you to get both components in at one time!

Dynamic stretching also encourages you to contract muscle groups throughout their range while challenging your balance. It primes your muscles for performance by replicating the motions that will be used during your training. It is much more sport specific and more effective in comparison to the classic "hold and stretch."

With more active jogging and dynamic stretching techniques, the athlete will be better prepared for the ensuring session or game. In training situations the athlete will spend less time in the warm up phase therefore allowing more time for the main body of the session where all the learning takes place.

This method very specifically prepares the muscle tissue for active muscle contraction and relaxation as required in a sporting situation. There is limited ability by this method to cause long term increases in range of motion due to the limited time that a muscle is held in a stretch.

This short stretching time is not long enough to allow time dependent stress relaxation to occur, leading to minimal flexibility improvements. Therefore it is important to include some static stretching in the warm down to continue to improve flexibility and range of movement.

For More Information On Dynamic Stretching and The Components Of a Warm Up Visit:
http://www.squidoo.com/components-of-a-warm-up

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