WARMUPS - DON’T SKIP THEM!

Warmups are a small but important part of every workout. The goal of a warmup is to prepare your mind and body to perform in whatever workout, competition, or activity you are going to take part in. In recreation and in sports, warmups are often skipped or overlooked for being boring, taking up too much time, or feeling like a waste of time.

A good warmup should be brief, fun, and targeted in order to get the best result out of yourself. If you’re not warming up, you could be leaving a lot on the table.   

Keep it Brief

If you tend to skip warmup because you want to keep your warmup more concise, you may want to consider just making it shorter. 

Picking 2-3 movements and doing them through a couple of times is plenty to get one ready to go. Once you find what works for you, your warmup will feel like a routine part of the workout and can be accomplished quickly. 

Doing a brief warmup versus no warmup can get you more focused and engaged with your workout.

Keep it Fun

Do you normally skip your warmup? 

If you want a way to increase your buy-in to warmups, make it fun! You can choose your own fun activity that will elevate your heart rate. Often, these warmups are game based. This can involve a partner, team, or be solo.

For example, you may grab a workout buddy and pass a ball back and forth off a wall seeing how many times you can catch it in a row without dropping it. Maybe you set up a foam roller and take turns throwing a med ball, trying to knock the foam roller over. Maybe you set up a series of boxes and jump from box to box and play the kids classic “floor is lava.

At the end of the day, fun is completely subjective to you. In my own warmups, I will play basketball or juggle a soccer ball for a few minutes to elevate my heart rate and move into different positions.

Keep it Targeted

Selecting a warmup that prepares you for the workout you are about to embark on can drastically increase your performance on that workout. 

For example, if you know you are going to do squats and bench press during your workout, then selecting warmups that groove up those movement patterns is probably the most beneficial.

To warm up for squats, one might choose air squats, jumps squats, marches, or skips. These all get the knees, hips, and ankles moving as well as prepare your muscles to generate some force.

To warm up for bench press one might choose a medicine ball chest pass, pushup, or band pull apart. The goal here would be to target the shoulders, elbows, and wrists while getting the muscles of the upper body prepared to do work. 

Warming up the core is always a good addition to a warmup. Core activation can increase stability and coordination of movement. To target the core, one could do activities that require bracing of their midsection either statically or while moving. Some examples of these are bird dogs, planks or knee raises.

Don’t Skip Your Warmup This Winter!

We know warmups are important, but they’re critical in these colder Pittsburgh months! Do your body a favor and make sure you’re warm - we don’t want any torn or pulled muscles because they’re too cold! Stay warm(ed up) out there!