Get Pumping Before You Start Jumping: Warming Up

Short and sweet this ought to be.

It’s simple. Never, ever, ever jump right into your workout without properly warming up beforehand, capiche?

What does warming up mean? It means getting your heart pumping at a higher rate and increasing blood flow throughout either your entire body or to specific muscle groups that are about to be put through the test in the gym or the field.

You often see athletes jumping up and down around the track before being substituted into the game. It always happens. No coach is ever going to send in a player who’s been sitting on the bench for an hour or so head on into the game without a decent 10-15 minute warm up beforehand; but why?

Warming up does more than just funnel oxygen and nutrients into your muscle fibers, it adequately prepares the muscle fibers and relaxes them which in turn can help prevent painful potential injuries on account of muscles being too tense to activate efficiently.

My warm ups can vary day-on-day between doing them on a treadmill, a stationary bike, an elliptical machine or throwing in a combo of body weight workouts together for a good 10 minutes till I’ve broken a sweat and gotten ready for what’s to come. Here’s a sample to give you a better idea [YouTube any moves you may not be familiar with for reference or have an experienced fitness instructor show you how to do them]:

[Note: This warm up is practiced by jumping on and off a treadmill that is left running on speed 8 during the duration of the entire warm up so that I am jogging, jumping off, performing the different moves then jumping back on for a jog and so on and so forth till the 10 minutes are up. This can be substituted for other workout machines or by running in place if there is no treadmill]

• Jog for 2 minutes
• High knees in place [15 repetitions]
• Jog for 10 seconds
• Moving high knees [15 repetitions]
• Jog for 10 seconds
• High heels [15 repetitions]
• Jog for 10 seconds
• Moving high heels [15 repetitions]
• Jog for 10 seconds
• Jumping jacks [15 repetitions]
• Jog for 10 seconds
• Power jacks [15 repetitions]
• Jog for 10 seconds
• Bodyweight squats [15 repetitions]
• Jog for 10 seconds
• Jumping squats [15 repetitions]
• Jog for 10 seconds
• Sumo squats [15 repetitions]
• Jog for 10 seconds
• Boxersize [15 repetitions]
• Jog for 10 seconds
• Mummy kicks [15 repetitions]
• Jog for 10 seconds
• Alternating knee-to-elbow kicks [15 repetitions]
• Jog for 10 seconds
• Mountain climbers [15 repetitions]
• Jog for 10 seconds
• Push ups [15 repetitions]
• Jog for 10 seconds
• Dips [15 repetitions]
• Jog for 10 seconds
• Pull ups/chin ups [15 repetitions]
• Jog for 1 minute

Sounds awfully long and complicated for a warm up doesn’t it? Really and truly isn’t. I’m not just saying that because my life revolves around fitness, I honestly started learning this routine a few months back and once you get the hang of it, the tempo becomes quite memorable and you become quite adept at switching up some of the moves and laying special focus on specific muscle groups as per the intended workout of the day.

Warm ups can also incorporate dynamic stretches, which I discussed briefly in a previous post.

Obviously the above highlights what I do, it’s meant to be a general thing you take up unless you can do it safely and above all, would like to make it a part of your fitness routine.

Don’t forget to get pumping before you start jumping!