We are told to “warm up” before sports or exercise. It sounds simple enough yet there are common mistakes you should avoid to prevent injury and jeopardize an effective workout. Nevertheless, the biggest mistake you can do is to skip this most important component of exercise. We spend most of our time sitting or lying down before we exercise. Warming up helps you shift gears both mentally and physically. Here are the TOP 5 COMMON MISTAKES people make.
1) STRETCHING BEFORE A WORK OUT
Static stretching means holding a particular position for 20 to 30 seconds and sometimes forcing a limb into a position. Static stretching before a workout especially when your body is ‘cold’ can increase risk of muscle and ligament tear. This is especially evident if you are doing strength training. Save static stretching for after training because it signals your muscles to relax instead of activate.
DO THIS INSTEAD: Dynamic Stretches or Roller Foam
Dynamic stretches means moving your joints with no resistance through their full ranges of motion rather than holding a position steady (static). You use your muscles to move. Arm circles and ankle rolls are examples of dynamic stretches.
Using a foam roller for myofascial release during a warm-up may help reduce tension while elevating temperature in muscle and fascia without the use of any exercises that could cause fatigue. However, it is important to keep the session short (about 1 minute per muscle group) as it could also cause your muscles to relax instead of activate.
2) NOT SPORT SPECIFIC
Warm up by gently mimicking the movements of the sport. For rotational sports such as tennis and golf, rotate the torso without weight to warm up. For basketball, you can do hopping after dynamic warm ups.
Think about the movements and demands of the sport you play and mimic them before you begin. Once you start playing the sport, the mind gets focused on performance and puts movement on autopilot. Focusing on the movements and muscles before you play gives your joints a preview of what is to come and creates motor patterns or muscle memory that is useful for your brain.
3) TOO HARD OR TOO LITTLE
One of the main reasons why we skip warm up is because it is boring and time consuming. While it is not wise to spend too much time on warm ups, it shouldn’t be too short and taxing on your body. Going too hard during your warm up will leave your tank empty before you can even begin. An intensive warm up can also be dangerous for your joints, muscle and for your cardiovascular system. If you are new to exercise, your warm up should be gradual and easy (at about 15% – 20% of your effort). A proper warm-up is important because it can take about five to eight minutes for the oxygen and energy levels to meet the demands of a sustained physical activity, in other words, your main workout. Furthermore, the more intense your workout program is, the longer your warm up should be. For example, if you plan to run or cycle at a moderate to hard effort for 1.5 – 2 hours, your warm up should at least be 10% of the duration (approximately 15min or more).
4) WARMING UP WITH LIMITED MOVEMENTS
A common warm up mistake most people do in the gym is to warm up with limited movements. Example would be warm ups that only focuses on forward movements such as jogging, push ups, squats and lunges. Our body moves at a variety of directions. Multiple movement preparation can be an effective and functional way to prepare the body for a tough and physically demanding workout. For best results, a movement preparation warm-up should start with exercises that focus on stability of the lumbar spine along with mobility of the hips and thoracic spine, while gradually increasing the level of intensity that involves all of the movement patterns of exercise: lunging, squatting, pushing, pulling, moving sideways, rotating and hinging. Here is warm up drill you can try instead of the boring “jog on the treadmill” routine.
5) NOT WARMING UP SMART
A majority of us have some form of dysfunctional movement or muscle imbalances. Take this opportunity to address this issues during your warm up session to save time while you strengthen the weakest link in your body. For example, if you have weak glutes (buttocks), you can perform the Glute Bridge and Butt Lifts as your warm up on top of the other warm up drills that I have explained above. This way, you will not neglect the importance of maintaining a healthy and solid body frame.