No, don’t bother warming up.

Pull a muscle, feel your heart palpitate and fall down.

….

Now, we don’t want that to happen…do we?

Whatever your goal is, you MUST MOVE WELL.

Warm-ups are non-negotiable components of your training. Prepare yourself mentally and physically to reduce the potential of injury. Get more blood flowing through your tissues so your muscles can be ready for action. Get oxygen and nutrients to your muscles and brain.

The type of warm up has to relate to the exercise/activity that you are about to embark on. If you are doing strength training, ensure the muscles around the joint and the muscles that you are working on – is properly lengthened and supple. Mobilize the joint area so that you have proper range of motion. Do dynamic stretching that imitates the movement pattern and also some isometric holds e.g. planks, 5 min squat test or even dead-hang pull up holds. Running 5 mins around the block just to warm up, won’t help your body be ready for squats. It elevates your heart rate so that your blood is pumping more than your static state.

By the end of your warm-up, you should feel all ready to go!

Check out the video below. It’s a 8-minute warm-up that maximizes your full body movements in all movement planes (transverse, saggital, frontal planes).

Warm up exercises: Jumping Jacks, arm swings, lunge and twists, lateral lunges, torso swings, inchworms, shoulder circles and shoulder rolls.

Try this out the next time you train.