If you have been engaging in regular exercising, you probably know the importance of warming up before your full work out session. Warm up exercises can protect you from becoming injured, will increase the quality of your exercise session and it will also make the entire experience more enjoyable! So, how exactly should you warm up effectively for optimal results?

First of all, you should start with a general warm up. You warm up session should start off with light exercises. The exact duration of this phase and its intensity levels will vary. You should keep it to less than 5 minutes, otherwise you may burn yourself out by the actual work out session.

One of my favorite ways to warm up will be start with dynamic stretching. This will allow you to better activate your muscles during your work out. This is in contrast with static stretching. Static stretching will cause your muscles to become too relaxed during your actual exercise session. You should place your body in positions in which your muscles will be stretched under tension.

Now that you have completed the dynamic stretching session, you should be performing movements you are going to do during your actual work out, the only difference being not using any weights now. Doing this will actually help your body and joints get used to the motions needed to be performed in the actual work out session with heavy weights. This way, you will be less likely to perform the exercises wrongly and end up with injuries of sorts.

If you are really worried and are not sure if the warm up exercises you are doing are good for preventing injuries and soreness during your actual work out sessions, you may want to consult a competent professional situated near you. This is usually the case if you have particular sustained injury in the past.

If you feel that some part of your body, joint or muscle hurts when you are performing your stretching exercises, you should definitely stop the exercise. It is normal if it turns out to be some usual muscle pain, but if you sense that it is something unusual, you should stop immediately and get a professional opinion.

The above steps should be able to help you perform appropriate warm up exercises efficiently so that subsequently, you will be able to yield the best results during your actual work out session!

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