Apart from reducing the risk of injury to your muscles after exercise, it also makes your heart beat faster, increasing circulation throughout your body in the process. And lastly, it just gets you into the mood especially when you are feeling down and lazy. Read on and choose which set of warm-up exercises you think is best for you. Before performing the steps of each exercise, it is important to maintain a proper starting position. When standing, make sure your body is straight (even when sitting) with your stomach tucked in and your feet hip-width apart. Always take a deep breath before starting.
One of the most comfortable warm-up exercises you can do is jogging; Even a simple walk will do. Both of these, along with stationary cycling, marching and other types of light aerobic exercise are better when you can warm up your muscles before exercising compared to direct cold muscle stretches which are actually not recommended as mentioned above.
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To walk, bend your elbows at 90 degrees, with your fists not curled up and arms swinging gently. Make sure that you extend your heel and that it is fully touching the ground before you roll forward on your toes.
In jogging, make sure your body is in an upright position with your back straight. We can also jog on the spot for a few minutes.
Another light aerobic activity that is one of the best warm-up exercises as discussed above is marching. Once again, you will feel yourself warming up, indicating your readiness to exercise, along with your heart of course.
Just like walking or jogging, you should stand straight with your arms swinging along with your legs and without your fists tightened. When you lift your legs, make sure they don’t go higher than your waist.
Line up in place for a few minutes, maybe 20 to 30 times per minute, and try to increase your speed with each passing moment until your heart rate goes up as well.
This simple warm-up exercise helps to loosen up your shoulders and the pressure in them and is also great for the upper arms. It can also be an effective cardio.
In the starting position, hold your arms to the sides at shoulder level. Keep your shoulders down and your elbows straight. Then, gently rotate your arm in a small clockwise circle, keeping it straight and not bent.
After doing 10 full circles, repeat the process now in a counterclockwise rotation, making sure also that your wrists are not bent and are at arm level.
After doing some small circles, try to make bigger ones while increasing your speed. We can also put one arm behind us as we roll the other, then vice versa, or twist both arms but this time, in opposite directions.
Warm-up exercises should address your entire body, including your shoulders. This exercise, with Head and Shoulder Rolls as an alternative, clearly works by helping to release the tension generated in your shoulders such as that caused by maintaining a poor sitting or standing position.
After assuming the starting position, that is, you are already standing straight, place your hands on your hips and start rotating your shoulders. Complete a full shoulder roll by following forward – up – then backwards.
After that it will be our head. Simply turn your head in a gentle clockwise motion, or towards your right side. Finish by turning counterclockwise, while inhaling and exhaling properly with each roll. Repeat these simple steps about 15 times.
We can also line up in place by doing the shoulder turning exercise. Just have your arms hanging loosely on either side of you while rotating your shoulders in the same motion. Do this at least 10 times before reversing the direction of the reels, all in quick succession for 1 minute.
In this case, we will practice 2 different knee exercises.
At the Knee Circle, make sure your feet are shoulder-width apart in your starting position. Although you can also keep your feet close together if it suits you. Bend your knees, with your hands on them, and slowly rotate them clockwise, keeping hip movement to a minimum. Do 10 reps before doing small circles counterclockwise.
In Knee Lifting, simply lift one leg at least at waist level for a few seconds, sucking in your stomach and keeping your posture upright. We can keep our hands by our sides to practice our balance or hold them in position. Do at least 10 reps and challenge yourself by pulling your knees higher to your chest.
The Glute Bridge or Bridging exercise isn’t just a great warm-up; This is another effective knee pain or strengthening exercise that helps relieve pain and pressure in the joint and increase knee stability during exercise. This not only strengthens your core, it also adds to your quads, hamstrings, and glutes or the muscles in your butt. Just avoid bridging or overextending your back too high.
Start by lying on your back and bending your knees at 90 degrees, keeping your heels and hips flat on the floor.
Slowly lift your buttocks up with your knees, hips and shoulders all in a straight line for 5 seconds. Also focus on clenching your back end or butt while in the top position before lowering yourself down. Repeat the process for 10 to 15 repetitions.
Side-lying rotation helps loosen your mid-back, shoulders, and chest.
Lie on your right or left side with your upper knee bent and your lower leg straight. Flex your hips so that you are facing up and your arms and palms are directly in front of you.
Through the center of your back, rotate your upper body by opening your chest and upper arms in an arched motion. The upper arm should now be at least on the floor on the opposite side.
After turning back to your starting position, just repeat the process for a few repetitions before switching to the other side.
Thigh Mobilization In kneeling not only targets the groin area, this dynamic mobility exercise also increases the length and mobility of the adductor muscles so they don’t form a knot when they’re stuck together. The adductor muscles are a group of muscles in the inner thigh and are named for producing adduction, the movement of a body part toward the midline of the body.
In a kneeling position, your hands and wrists should be under your shoulders and your knees under your hips. From there, straighten your right leg out to the side, 90 degrees from your torso, keeping your right leg and knee straight on the floor, and your toes straight out in front of you.
After that, push your hips back as far as possible until you feel a stretch on the inside of your thigh. Then rock advances past our starting position as far as we can. Keep doing it for a few repetitions before moving on to your left leg.
