4 Reasons Why You Need to Warm Up Before Exercising

Discover the top reasons for warming up before a workout, how best to do it, and how it can significantly improve your fitness performance.

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Investing in personal fitness is valuable in every way and no matter what your goals are, whether you’re looking to build muscle or lose weight, working with a personal trainer can have many benefits, including:

• They help you set realistic goals and achieve them safely and quickly.
• They teach you the correct posture and lower your risk of injury.
• They hold you accountable and keep you on track, even when things get really tough.
• They can provide the right fitness and nutritional advice to help you achieve all your goals.

Achieve All Your Fitness Goals With Our Calgary Personal Trainers

At Jensen Fitness, we offer customised online and in-gym personal training and nutrition services to help you achieve all your goals. Whether you want to shed some extra pounds or improve your strength, we have the expertise and passion to get you the results you want.

 

4 Reasons Why It’s So Important To Warm Up Before Your Workout

While it can often be tempting to skip your warm-up when you’re short on time or just eager to get to your main fitness program, it’s important not to. Warm-ups serve a number of useful purposes and are important to your performance because they:

1. Reduce Your Risk of Injury

One of the most important reasons for doing a warm up before your fitness routine is to prevent injury during exercise. Keeping the muscles warm will prevent any acute injuries such as:

• Muscle pulls/strains
• Knee injuries
• Sprained ankles
• Tendinitis
• Shin splints

A warm up helps your body get ready for exercise by loosening up your muscles and joints so that they’re less vulnerable to injury. Some of the warm-ups you may consider doing include jogging in place for 10 minutes, jump rope, or riding an exercise bike.

 

2. Encourage Blood Flow To Your Muscles

Blood is essential for your muscles to work properly, especially at the higher level of demand you’re expecting during a fitness program. Getting more blood to your muscles is important because:

• It makes your ligaments and tendons more flexible
• It gives your muscles more nutrients, which is important for energy production
• It decreases your risk of injury
• It helps you move more easily

Enhanced blood flow can be achieved much more effectively with dynamic stretching, which means you move as you stretch and includes exercises such as knees to chest, high kicks, and jump squats.

 

3. Prep Your Cardiovascular System

While this is important for individuals of all ages, it is particularly important for those with undiagnosed heart disease to warm up before exercise as failing to do so can increase the risk of irregular heart rhythms and heart attacks.

REMEMBER: Even a five minute warm-up has benefits from a cardiovascular standpoint. Warming up allows the blood flow to the heart to gradually increase and adjust to the demands of exercise.

 

4. Motivate You

It never feels good to exercise intensely with cold muscles and warming up boosts blood flow so your muscles and joints are more pliable. In addition, warming up gives you the chance to adjust your mindset so you can focus on the task at hand and provides some motivation and excitement to get into your fitness routine.

 

Call Today

To find out more about how our personal trainers can help create a tailored fitness program for you, and lower your risk for any injuries or health issues during your workouts, contact our Calgary gym today at 403-200-0199 or fill in our online contact form.