Warm Up Exercises Before Your Workout

Most people know that they should do some type of warm up before they exercise and work out. It is important to get the blood flow going to your body parts. Stretching is thought to be a great workout. After all, you are targeting those muscles. However, did you know that stretching before a workout can actually hurt and damage your muscles and joints? Your body is not warmed up properly and you can easily pull something. So forgo the actual stretching until after the workout when you need to cool down and relax those muscles.

Using a simple warm up before your workout does not have to be hard. There are many different exercises that you can quickly do before your fitness routine that will not take a lot of extra time, but will be time well spent. Try these simple exercises for warming up.

Warm Up Exercises Before Your Workout

Do each for a minute or two

Jumping Jacks – get those arms and legs warmed up
Slow Jogging in place – Make sure to add some High Steps too
Jump Rope – great for your heart and overall fitness
5 lunges per leg – slow and not overly deep to start
Arm Swings – getting the blood flowing
Shoulder Rotations – perfect if you work at a desk all day
Leg Swings – work those muscles especially if you sit a lot
Weighted Ball Toss – Do this overhead for arm warmup’s

By adding 5 to 8 minutes of warm up infront of your exercise routine, you are going to lessen the chance of injury which will have you sitting the sidelines. That is the last thing we need as we get older!

It doesn’t take much to warm up, but it will be worth it! What type of warm ups do you use?

Chris