warming up for exercise

Warming up
Before you undertake any exercise its necessary to warm up first, the purpose of warming up is:

~Increase your heart rate; increasing your heart rapidly is stressful on your body and heart.

~Increase your body temperature, cold joints and muscles are more resistive to movement.

~Warming up diverts blood from your internal organs to your muscles, this is why eating on the go can create digestive problems and eating while training is not effective, it goes against the grain so to speak.

~Warming up can mentally prepare for exercise, helping you focus and notice any ailments, injury niggles.

How do you warm up?
Firstly get your joints moving with general exercises, i.e. non specific, this can be walking, mat work, cycling with the process aimed at increasing your heart rate and joint movement, the amount you do gradually.
When you have started to feel the effects of your exercising then look to do sport specific exercises, movements that are similar to what you do in your sport, i.e. leg raises similar to the kicks in Karate, this is a good way to get the most from your training regime.

Please note if you have been given stretches to perform to assist the rehabilitation of back pain then it’s also wise to mobilise the joints involved this will increase efficiency and response.

If you have any questions or would like any topics covering please call or drop an email.

Regards
Francis Connor
Manchester Osteopaths
Tel:0161 835 2358