Most people who are short of time during working out tend to skip the warm-up and directly jump into the workout. Have you ever tried to skip the warm-up and landed up with a sprain in your ankle? Warm-up might sound lame, but there are a lot of advantages. In this article today, we will talk about the best warm-up exercises that will help you prevent injuries during your workout sessions.

Advantages of Warm-Up

Before we get into the best warm-up exercises, you should know the advantages of warm-up exercises. Some key advantages of warm-up exercises have been listed for your convenience.

Warm Up helps in increasing flexibility

The biggest advantage of a warm-up is it helps in increasing flexibility. The more flexible you are, the more convenient it becomes for you to exercise.

Lowers the risk of getting injured

As stated earlier, if we do not warm up before we get into our regular workout sessions, we might risk getting injured. Because when you step inside the gym, the body is stiff. It is only after the warm-up that it becomes ready for exercise. Warm-up increases blood flow the which helps the muscles get the required nourishment.

Lessens muscle tension and pain

Warm-up exercises also help lessen pain and muscle tension by reducing fatigue. Just after warm-up, muscles feel warm and relaxed. And you can move around freely. This is precisely why the pain caused by the movement of muscles is reduced to a great extent.

5 Best Warm-Up Exercises

There are numerous warm-up exercises that can help you ease your muscles. We have listed the best five warm-up exercises for you below.

Squats

Squats are one of the best warm-up exercises because of their versatility. It targets multiple muscles of the lower body, including the hamstrings, quads, and glutes. To overcome the initial difficulties because of the stiffness in the body, we can start doing warm-ups by doing half squads and then move onto full squads. It releases the muscles and makes it easier to move.

Process

• It would be best if you stood straight with your hips apart and your toes either facing forward or slightly away from the sight.
• It would help if you lowered your hip till you find your thighs are parallel to the floor.
• It would help if you paused briefly with your knees bending halfway but not beyond your toes. Make sure you are inhaling while you bend.
• Exhale while you stand back.
• It would be best to repeat this exercise 10 to 15 times in each rep and complete at least 1 to 3 sets in the warm-up.

Planks

Planks are one of the best warm-up exercises, especially for people who suffer from back pain and wish to develop their back muscles. Doing this warm-up exercise regularly helps in improving the posture and balance of an individual.

Process

• It would help if you lay down in a push-up position. Or else you can also do plank on your knees when you are warming up. Planks can also be done resting on your forearms or by fully extending your arms.
• Your toes and palms need to be firmly planted on the ground before you start doing your warm-up. Make sure your core muscles remain tight, and your back is straight.
• You need to hold your plank for a minimum of 30 seconds before you hop onto the second set.

Side Lunges

Side lunges are an exercise effective for your lower body. It helps strengthen your hips, glutes, and legs. Even in this case, if you find your body is too stiff, you can start warming up, making half lunges, and then as the tension in the body releases, you can move towards making full Lunges.

Process

• It would help if you stood tall with your hips wide apart along with your feet.
• Simultaneously you need to press into your right foot and then move on to the left foot.
• While you are pressing your right foot, you need to bend your left leg down, keeping the right leg straight.
• You need to stand up then and perform the same movements for your right leg. Initiate this warm-up exercise for both the right and left lunges.

Push-ups

Push-ups are a classic exercise for the upper body. But most of us find difficulties in doing push-ups when we are doing a warm-up. For a start, if you really want to do push-ups, you can start by doing push-ups on your knees.

Process

• It would help if you sat on a plank kneeling on your knees.
• Place your hands wide apart on the plank, with your shoulders straight.
• Then you need to lower your body down towards the floor. Make sure your torso and back do not sag while you bend down.
• Keep bending towards the ground till your chin and chest touch the ground. Then stretch your hands to avoid any hyperextension.
• You can repeat this exercise eight to twelve times.

Triceps Warm-up

This is one of the best warm-up exercises for the triceps. It helps in loosening the triceps muscles.

Process

• It would be best if you stretched your arms sideways so that they are parallel to the floor. Your palms should be facing down.
• The arms should be rotated in a backward cycle keeping it straight.
• After 30 seconds, you need to rotate your arms in the forward cycle.
• You can repeat the movement in sets of 3 to ensure the tricep muscles is free.

Conclusion

Therefore, it can be said that no matter how late you are for your workout sessions, you should never miss doing warm-ups before you plunge into a workout if you really wish to avoid accidents or getting injured. We should remember that when we hit the gym, the body remains stiff, and only after doing a few rounds of workouts, the body becomes ready for intense exercises. Usually, people slow jog to ease out their bodies, but apart from slow jogging, some of the best warm-up exercises are squats, planks, side lunges, push-ups, and triceps warm up. 

These exercises are the most popular warm-up exercise. They are considered to be the best warm-up exercise worldwide because of the following reasons:

Firstly, they help in improving blood circulation. Secondly, these exercises reduce the risk of injuries by loosening the muscles. Thirdly, they increase muscle flexibility, and finally, these warm-up exercises help lessens muscle tension and pain.