Have you ever met anyone that starts a fitness program only to stop it shortly there after? There are millions of people that do every January. Why do you think that is? Multiple reasons from not knowing what to do, to setting goals too high, injury, or forgetting the end goal are some of the common reasons. One in particular has to do with not enjoying the workout experience and not knowing how to properly set up a safe and effective workout.
One of the key ingredients to a safe and effective workout is to incorporate a good warm-up. There are many ways to warm up your body for exercise. The American College of Sports Medicine recommends for average populations between 5-10 minutes of moderate movement to get your blood flowing and your body ready for the workout. If you have asthma or any other cardiovascular disease, you should actually be warming up 15-20 minutes prior to the workout.
The following blog is all about proper warm-ups, what science tells us about warm-ups, real stories from my professional experiences, and if you stay to the end you’ll read an exclusive offer for being a valued blog reader.
Key Essential #1: Know Why You Should WarmUp⠀
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Why is warming up necessary?⠀
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9 times out of 10 if you’re leading group fitness, you’ll have a beginner in your class or someone that hasn’t worked out in a LONG time (and has some de-training).⠀
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#1 is safety – ⠀
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That will definitely decrease motivation for anyone else in the class to Want to workout further & come back⠀
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#2 Can decrease soreness factors of the DOMS (Delayed Onset of Muscle Soreness) Effect by warming up and getting a good stretch in either before or after the main portion of your workout⠀
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Key Essential #2: Simple, Fun, & Free!⠀
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Walking is a great warmup for any age, any fitness level.⠀
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I incorporated walking as the warmup often when I taught the Move Happy® program originally to my patients. It was a simple way whether we were able to go outside to the court yard or walked the halls of the active treatment center.⠀
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My patients were adults mostly in the 40s-70s+ range with a few outliers sprinkled in the mix. A lot of them had not exercised or intensely exercised in a long while. I wanted to do something that would help them feel successful from the start and gradually get their hearts, bodies & minds ready. A large majority of them were diagnosed obese or morbidly obese, and walking is a great safe way to warm up for those in that category.
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They did enjoy & all it cost them and me was time YASSSS⠀
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Key Essential #3: Vary Your Movement For WarmUps!⠀
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Moving your body in a variety of ways can increase your bodies readiness for exercise if you’re on a time crunch.⠀It can also incorporate more of your muscles to warm up your body, keeping it fun & varied.⠀
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When I taught college fitness classes (OSU) in Grad school (2010-12), I would lead the warm-up like my step aerobics routine.⠀It wouldn’t be exactly the same, but you get the picture.⠀
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Instead of us marching in place or walking around the small room for 5 minutes, they got to be on the step moving, getting their heart rates speeding up gradually, getting their large muscles engaged, and a chance to incorporate some memory practice.⠀
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I tried it differently each quarter and found most of the students enjoyed it that way (since I got rated and kept my scholarship because of my high student rating, I trust their judgment 😂)⠀
Key Essential #4: Dynamic Stretches Are The Ish!⠀
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Dynamic stretches are a form of warm-ups that are great for those that do a lot of workouts like Crossfit, or a lot of fast functional movement exercises.⠀
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Dynamic = in motion⠀
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Static = stationary (or stretch+hold w/o movement)⠀
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A leg kick forward and back would be a dynamic leg stretch.⠀
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You’re kind of hitting 2 🐦s with 1 stone ⠀
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Increasing your ♥️ rate + stretching your muscles to reduce injury risk whoop! 🙌 ⠀
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There is enough literature stating dynamic stretches can help with weight lifting or body weight exercises more so than static stretching⠀
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ACSM States that they both are good and there is research for both. If you’re going to do static stretches, do them at the end of your warmup or at the end of the main workout.⠀
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I say do dynamic at the beginning every time if time is a factor for you. ⠀
Key Essential #5: Order A Fitness Program That Incorporates Warm Ups If You’re Struggling To Come Up With Your Own
The Move Happy Facilitator Program© Includes Warmups!
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I am super excited & proud to share my 16-week program with you! It is something I actually facilitated to my former patients in a psychiatric hospital.⠀
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We ran the program 4 days a week and each week included a topic like how I share with you every week! ⠀
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All weekly topics were related to happiness from what I researched⠀
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I created a psychological questionnaire to measure happiness (simple 1-pager) & a fitness questionnaire to measure fitness so you and your participants can track progress throughout.⠀
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My patients improved for the most part in both areas consistently and spread news about the group around the hospital 💜 ⠀
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Each day includes:⠀
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Journaling 📓 (pre-designed questions I created)⠀
Group Discussion of the daily topic (a subtopic of the weekly)⠀
&⠀
Workouts 🏋️♀️ With Minimal Equipment ⠀
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I recreated the workouts via video example (demo not full) so you don’t have to be a fitness expert to run the program.⠀
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I’m looking for program testers that are willing to give me a testimony to increase the trust factor (honest testimony of course). ⠀
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To the first ✌️ that email me a receipt of order, I’m sending you some swag once you’ve had a chance to try the program out and give me an honest review.⠀
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To order here.
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Move Happy® Updates
✅ Move Happy® World Tour is happening soon! I am SUPER excited about this.
What is it about?⠀ ⠀
Move Happy® is about empowering you to walk away from depression towards your own happiness through: Mindset, Community & Fitness. This experience will be a 1-2 day event including: Public speakers you are going to LOVE 🔥, Musicians 🎶 that will rock your 🌎, Practical strategies to walk away empowered, equipped, and ready to take your life to the next spectacular level 🤸♀️🤸♀️🤸♀️⠀ ⠀
To donate to help make this event possible go here. Email me your info and amount donated to help me track for my future accountant 🤣.
Who’s coming?!⠀ ⠀ 🙋♀️🙋♂️🙋🏾♂️🙋🏾♀️🙋🏼♂️🙋🏽♂️🙋🏽♀️🙋🏻♀️⠀ ⠀
All are welcome⠀ ⠀
PS: Oh I’m donating 100% of my time and any revenue aside from the expenses of the show and marketing to help improve the treatment of people with mental illness.
So there you have it folks. Warm-ups are essential to a great workout program. They can be fun, varied, and ease you into the workout. Not all warm-ups are equal. If you have asthma or any cardiovascular disease like COPD, high blood pressure, or other, make sure to allow for a few extra minutes of the warm-up portion before getting to the main workout (15-20minutes is recommended). If you’re leading the warm-up, ask your audience what they prefer to make it even more fun for them.
Lastly, as always…
Don’t forget to tell someone you love them today 💜 ♥️ 💕
If you found any value in my blog, I’d be honored if you’d share it with a friend or two and tag me on your social media posts 😊
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