I’ve noticed that while a
lot of people are looking for information on stretching and exercise, that
there aren’t many questions being asked about the warm up portion of an exercise
program. I am as guilty as the rest of
you, perhaps even more so, but this is important…. even though I find that the
whole idea of exercising before exercising incredibly boring.
Warming up before exercising
is a solid idea that has been around for a very long time. It is important for young athletes everywhere
but I am thinking that it is even more important at our age. We already have multiple aches and pains, and
while our minds still think we can tear around like a teenager, our bodies tend
to disagree. I’ve had friends inflicted with spontaneous injuries when they weren’t
even doing anything, just standing there or walking around. It is pretty obvious that we become more
vulnerable as we age.
The purpose of the warm up
is to prepare your joints and muscles for the activity that you are going to
do. Before you begin a specific activity
you should move your joints through a similar range of motion. For example, if you are going to do a brisk
walk you would start by walking slowly. When your muscles are warmed up, they
are more elastic and less susceptible to injuries. Warm up activities also
expand blood vessels and help blood and oxygen flow throughout your body,
making your muscles and joints warmer and more flexible. Believe it or not, warming up decreases the
amount of soreness that you generally feel after you workout.
Of course the excuse for
skipping a warm up is that they just take up too much time. I know, by the time that you do 15 minutes of
warm up and add a cool down, that 30 minute walks is taking an hour (sigh). I know, if you make it a less vigorous form of
the activity you are preparing for you can count it in as your exercise time! If you are going to jog at 6 mph you could
start out at 4 mph. Oh wait, I only jog 4 mph anyway, so I guess I had better
start out walking. Well, by now I have
just about talked myself out of doing a slow jog around the neighborhood, but
on the other hand if I never go faster than a slow jog anyway, maybe the whole
thing will count as a warm up. Always thinking!
A warm up takes15 minutes or
more if you are preparing for a tough soccer match or the like, but if you are
just walking around the neighborhood or doing a few laps at the local pool, you
can get by with less. Use your judgment. Start slowly and increase gradually. Gently increase intensity and gently move
your joints in a circular motion to get your juices flowing, so to speak.
We already know that we want to improve the
quality of our lives by exercising regularly, so make a promise to yourself to
spend a few more minutes to warm up properly so that you don’t injury yourself.
I would totally enjoy input from other
senior exercisers.
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