Fitness Training – The Importance of Warming Up

All sorts of physical practice, in fitness or any other sport, have to initiate through correct warming up. This activity, in on with relaxation and the main stage, are the three essential characteristics of the training.

The types of warming up can differ a lot in length, intensity and structure of exercises, according to the sport or the training you want to start. Although there are many kinds of warming up, all of them have in common two similar stages.

The first stage concerns warming up, whose purpose is to gradually prepare the body for the effort which will follow. The body temperature also increases. At this stage, the inertia of the body is easily removed through aerobic exercises (running, cycling, etc.). This stage should not take more than 5-10 minutes; otherwise it may change to a true aerobic training. It is well known that during aerobic attempt the body consumes a lot of glycogen, so, especially before force training (anaerobic), there is the risk of running out of energy.

The second stage of warming up is specific to every sport. This stage aims to warm up the main muscles and joints involved in the effort, but also to anticipate, by simulation, chosen movements from the main part of the training. This stage can be longer than the first one and includes multiple types of gymnastics for the joints, jumping, exercises at greater speed, stretching, etc. However, this stage shouldn’t be very extended either, because the sportsman needs to save physical energy and to avoid mental stress. In many sports (target shooting, fencing, tennis, etc.), mental stress can be even bigger as opposed to physical effort.

These two stages of warming up must come one after the other very strictly. It is forbidden to switch this order, and as well to skip one of them. Unfortunately, it is common in sport to skip the first stage and do just specific warming up, that is considered more important.

This is a big mistake, because this kind of exercises does not rise the body temperature as much as the ones involving minimum aerobic effort. The result is that the body will be alot more rigid and a lot less prepared for the main part of the training. There are cases, especially in sport games, when both stages of warming up are abandoned. Kicking the ball or passing a few times are supposed to replace a thorough, but boring warming up.

Not doing the warming up right or, worse, not doing it at all shoots up the risk of having accidents during training or competing. Possible accidents range from simple ones, like pulling a muscle or cramps, to some really bad ones (ruptured muscles, hernia, sprains, dislocations, etc.). Even if, luckily, such accidents do not happen, the person may encounters a dramatic decrease of efficiency in performing the exercises.

It is very important for beginners to do the warming up. If they do not ignore it when they take up sport, they will form a habit of warming up and will, hopefully, keep this habit as long as they do sport. They should not believe the false idea that, being beginners, they shouldn’t exercise so intensely. All these difficulties are traps that correct warming up can with out a doubt avoid.

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