Your Warm Up Needs Improvement
What is the first thing you do when you go to a gym? Is it hop on the treadmill like everyone else and then grab your 10lb weights, cranking out endless reps with no sense of control for the movement? If so then you your warm up sucks and so does your programming.
No worries, I am going to tell you how you can fix it. Yes, walking on a treadmill can be healthy for some people. However, walking on a treadmill does nothing to prepare your body for the workout you are about to perform. The only thing a treadmill will do is assist you in walking or running since it pulls you along.
Depending on the fitness level of the person, it also may increase your heart rate. After people get off the treadmill they immediately go into a workout of squats or some kind of weird thing on a bosu ball with a shake weight.
Full Range of Motion
Think about the joints in your body and the way they bend and move. At any time on the treadmill did your hips, knees, and ankles experience full ranges of motion? No they did not. What about the joints in your arms, back, and neck did they experience full range of motion? Once again, the answer is no.
A warm-up should include full ranges of motion to all the joints in your body. This is how you properly prepare the body for the workout it is about to perform and prevent injury.
Joints need blood in order to perform properly and the best way to get blood flowing to the joints is by using movements that require full ranges of motion. Focus on joint mobility movements and movement flow. Movement flow is constantly moving your body freely in any range of motion you can think of.
Working Weaker Areas
Warm-ups are also a time to work on your weak areas such as being tight in certain joints. Can you do an overhead squat holding a stick overhead with your feet right against the wall going all the way down without touching the wall or falling backwards? If not guess what, you are an average American and your mobility sucks and needs work.
Why not take time in warm-up to work on your mobility and improve your range motion? Your body will be better prepared for the workout and you will also notice that your lifts will be easier and with better form as well.
By taking time to work on your mobility in the beginning of each training session, your joints are going to feel better and you will also increase the longevity of your life by constantly working your joints through full ranges of motion.
Remember, joints crave blood and the only way to do that is with movements that create full ranges of motion. Otherwise the joint gets stiff and sore and that is when problems occur. Hence, why sitting all day is terrible.
If we were a smart health conscious society we would get rid of all the chairs, put our beds on the floor, and lower the toilet seats down to the floor as well. This would force us to go through full ranges of motion each day without even thinking about it and it would be much better for our health.
So what joint mobility exercises should you be doing for your warm-ups? Simple, you should be doing any movement that improves circulation in the body and increases your range of motion. In your warm-ups take time and work on improving your mobility.
If you do this on a consistent basis, over time you will start to see your range of motion improve as well as having joints that feel better as well. Treat joint mobility the same as flossing. Make a habit of doing it every day!
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