Keeping the body fit is everyone’s goal, but not everyone works towards it efficiently. Those who do might still not do it optimally. Therefore, only a select few athletes attain the target of a healthy and fit body. Without using proper warm-up strategies and exercises, you risk injury and may not appropriately prepare the CNS for intense movements. Simply showing up at the gym may not be all required; doing it correctly is vital. Proper execution begins with warming up.
Let’s examine some warm-up strategies including a few important warm-up exercises as well as a few strategies to avoid.
Warming Up
Warming up is equally essential as training. Whether it’s a strength day, cardio day, a body part split, or a full-body workout, warming up is very much required. The primary aim of this is to enhance the body’s core and muscle temperature. It ensures that the body is ready to start the more substantial exercises. Not only exercises but also helps in being active throughout the day.
Furthermore, compared to average days, leg days are exhausting. Squats and deadlifts are highly taxing on the full body musculature as well as the nervous system. This means a substantial full-body warm-up routine is necessary,
Utilizing Resistance Bands
Warming up the body will make it work more and also reduce the chances of muscle strains. Prepare the body for utilizing the leg day; we should focus on core muscles. Glutes and hip flexors, help in bending, stabilizing the base, and extending for activating the muscular movements in warm-up and training using a glute activation band.
Using bands will increase tension at the mid-section and help in keeping the spine safe. Often when the muscles are not active, the pressure on the spine increases, especially during squats and lifts. It increases the flow of blood and also loosens the joints.
Tight Hip Flexors
If your job is working a desk job, you are likely sitting on a chair for long hours. A major side effect of working a desk job is tight hip flexors. Tight flexors result in contracted glutes, which impair the activation of those muscles during exercise. This means relaxed flexors allow glute activation, which is necessary for exercise. Legs swinging is mild but effective. Swings encourage active motion in the hips, glutes, and flexors.
What Does Warming Up Do For You?
We all know well that warming up ushers blood and nutrients into muscle tissue and also relaxes connective tissue. But it also helps to fix the anterior pelvic tilt, which lowers the back pain after lifts. It also will help in squats and deadlifts. Raising the temperature of muscles helps in increasing the energy rate. It reduces the time to contract muscles and prepares the body both physically and mentally for the workout.
Warm-ups Should Encompass the Full Body
Even if targeting a few muscle groups, the warm-up should be done for the full body. Before every workout, the upper, along with the lower body should be fully warmed up, even on leg day. One should perform different exercises, from dynamic stretching to metabolic activation such that intensity is increased before the actual workout.
Activating the Glutes
The activation of the posterior chain, including glutes, hips, and hammies, will help the whole body to perform optimally. This is true not only during workouts but also during the rest of the day. Glute activation will loosen up the hips and ensure that everything is perfect when it’s time for heavy lifting. When you need that added hip drive to lock out your deadlifts, you’ll be happy you spent 2 minutes activating your glutes first.
Final Thoughts
Although warming up is necessary, it should be done with care by selecting the best warm-up strategies and exercises depending on the movements you are training that day. Static stretches should not be a part of your warm-up, as they slow the blood flow to muscles, encourage your CNS to relax, and increase your ROM to levels that could potentially be dangerous depending on the exercise and type of training you plan to execute.
Only after exercise static stretching be used to cool down and begin the recovery process. The warm-up should never begin with heavy training, although a slow heart rate increase is preferred. Arguably, the most important part of your workout is selecting the proper group of warm-up exercises.
Happy Exercising!
Read more: Should I Exercise With a Workout Injury?
Tags: leg day, leg training, lower body, lower body training, warm up, warm ups, warm-up, warm-up strategies, warm-up strategy, warm-ups, warming up
