Warming up before exercising is a must. You need to increase your body temperature and warm-up your muscles. Why? Well we all know what happens to a cold rubber band when you try to stretch it. Also, at a relaxed state, most of your blood is within your internal organs, not your muscles. Warming up through physical activity will increase your heart rate, body temperature, and flow of blood to your muscles.
The American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) recommends that warm-ups should take about five to ten minutes. In my experience, the older (or colder) you are, the longer you need to thoroughly warm up. It’s pretty much based on your intensity level.
My warm-ups consist of mainly riding the elliptical cross trainer because it is low-impact and works both my upper and lower body. But this can get boring especially if you want to hit the weight room right away.
Recently I discovered a way to warm-up the whole body while using a modified hybrid workout routine. What’s a hybrid routine? Well if hybrid cars use a mixture of energy sources, hybrid workouts use a mixture of exercises. For example, you can take a pair of dumbbells and curl them up, and at the top of contraction you can flow right into a shoulder press. This is an example of a biceps curl and shoulder press hybrid workout.
Warm-Up Routine
For warming up the whole body, try this out. All you need is a pair of dumbbells that you can curl comfortable for up to 10 times (20 would be too light of a weight). For me, this ends up being 30-35 lbs, depending on what day it is. Next, find a spot on the floor that gives you plenty of room for a push-up position. Here’s the routine:
- Squats
- Push-ups (still holding dumbbells)
- Shoulder presses
- Bicep curls
- Upright rows
- Repeat
You can modify this list any way you want, but in my experience, this is a great full-body warm-up. I typically start out doing 10 reps of everything until I get fatigued (with push-ups, shoulder presses, or curls). As I fatigue, I decrease the reps to 6, 4, and even down to 1. The key is to go from one exercise to the other without pause, sort of like what you imagine in a military boot camp.
Once you complete this exercise (when you can’t go on any more than 1 rep) and you are not yet fully warmed up yet, take a minute or two break, grab a lighter pair of dumbbells and go at it again. I warm you, though, that if you do this warm-up properly, you will be breathing hard and heavy because you are taxing your whole body. To speed things up, do more squats and push-ups as these require major muscle systems and heavy weight (body weight).
Next time you’re stuck with a boring cardiovascular warm-up, head over to the weight room and get your pump on!
*Disclaimer*:The techniques, ideas, and suggestions in this article are not intended as a substitute for proper medical advice. Always consult your physician or health care professional before performing any new exercise, exercise technique or beginning any new diet. Any use of the techniques, ideas, and suggestions on this website is at the reader’s sole discretion and risk.
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