Warm-Up Exercises: The Optimal Warm Up Before Training
An extensive warm-up is essential before the sport in order to protect yourself from injuries. We show the most effective warm-up exercises.
Warm-up exercises: This is how you do it
During the warm-up exercises, it is important to start slowly and stretch the big muscles first, such as the legs and buttocks, before loosening your arms. The workout consists of a mixture of mobility and stretching exercises and takes about 10 to 15 minutes. Afterwards you should not allow too much time to pass between the warm-up and your workout, otherwise the warm-up will not be effective.
Why would you warm up?
By warming up the body is better supplied with blood and is therefore more efficient. You also get your circulation going and reduce the risk of injury.
The best warm-up exercises
1. Run on the spot
Not much needs to be said about this exercise. In order to warm up optimally, you should run for about one minute in small steps on the spot. For a little variety you can pull your knees as high as possible or do so-called butt kicks. This means that you touch your bottom with your heels.
2. Jumping jacks as whole body training
The jumping jack is a classic among the warm-up exercises, because similar to sit-ups, push-ups or knee bends, it warms up the entire body. In the starting position you stand up shoulder-wide and keep your arms straight on your body.
Then you jump into the straddle until your legs are clearly spread and at the same time bring your arms together above your head. The next step is to bring your legs together again and put your hands back on your body.
3. Lunge for the gluteal muscles
For the lunge you make a big step forward so that your back leg is only on your heels. Then you walk with your knee low towards the ground, but without putting it down. Make sure that your upper body and back are straight and your abdominal muscles are tense.
Your front leg should be at an angle of at least 90 degrees, the knee should not extend beyond your tiptoes. Then place your feet next to each other again and repeat the exercise with the other leg. During the lunge, especially the bottom and the thighs are stretched.
4. Standing scale for the trunk muscles
The standing scale is also one of the very effective warm-up exercises. Stretch your left leg backwards and tilt your upper body forward. The right standing leg can be slightly bent.
Do not support yourself with your hands on your thigh, but stretch them straight forward until you form as straight a line as possible. When you have held the exercise for a few seconds, you can change legs.
5. Touch the floor with your fingers
There are stretching exercises that are harder for some people than others. Touching the tips of your feet with your fingers from a standing position is definitely one of these exercises. However, you can train your muscles and stretch them slowly, so that after a while you will have no more problems reaching the floor with your fingers or even your whole hand.
For a start, you can place your toes on a curb, for example, to reduce the distance a little. If you practice stretching for a few minutes every day, you will make great progress after a short time. However, your connective tissue may not be elastic enough because of stuck fasciae. In this case, you should do specific fascial training to loosen the tension.