Warm Up 101

I request all my clients to show up at least 15 minutes prior to their scheduled appointments so they can "warm up."  Let's talk about what that really means. 

Why the warm up?

Starting with a "warm up" period will allow your body to physiologically prepare for physical exertion.  Of course, these changes will occur whether the individual actually performs a "warm up period" or not, but doing so at a moderate pace will reduce chance of injury during the resistance training.

In my program, the warm up is also crucial to getting the maximum caloric benefit out of the hour that the clients pay for.  Having an elevated heart rate and easily moving joints at the beginning of our hour means that I don't have to spend the first few sets getting the client's body ready before we can do higher intensity work.

How to Warm Up

A proper warm up can be performed via many different methods.  In the gym, people usually select their favorite cardio equipment: treadmill, elliptical, bike or stair climber.  Outdoors, people usually go for a run or ride their bike.  No matter which method you choose, you should start with a moderate pace then increase the pace after a couple of minutes.  I like to use a scale of 1 - 10 for conveying the pace:

Your warm up should start around a 3 or 4 pace and after 2 minutes, up the level to about a 5 or 6.  Maintain the 5 - 6 pace for about 13 minutes for a total of 15 minutes on the warm up.  Doing so will ensure you are ready for the 7 through 9 or 10 that we will hit during the working hour.

How to recognize the symptoms of being WARM

It is pretty easy to identify the people who actually spent time warming up before their training session.

Sweating:  First tell-tale sign: they are sweating, or at the minimum, glistening.  When your body temperature goes up (aka gets warmer...see the tie-in?), you begin to sweat.  Sure, some people sweat more efficiently than others, but you will sweat when you are warm.

Elevated Heart Rate: All my clients are required to wear heart rate monitors since our program is strongly based on heart rate training.  Having a heart rate about 130 is a good indicator you are putting forth some effort. 

Looser Joints & Muscles: This one is a bit more challenging for the outsider to recognize, but a person simply moves more fluidly when s/he is warm. 

Increased Vascularity: In leaner folks you can see the widened blood vessels at the surface of the skin as the blood begins circulating more to the working muscles (and less to the internal organs) it gives them the necessary oxygen supply.

Begin all your workouts with a good warm up and you will notice that the rest of your workout goes pretty smoothly.  If you have a specific body part that gives you grief (knees, elbows, back), then take a few minutes after your warm up to do a few light-weight movements for that joint to let the muscles and ligaments know they are about to be moving a little more, so "get ready."