Easy Warm-Up Exercises to Do, Based on Your Workout
Swimming, cycling, running, walking—whatever the workout, here’s how to loosen up and prevent injuries.
Warming up before a workout doesn’t often get the attention it deserves. Maybe you’re tight on time and eager to get to the heart of your workout—or maybe you haven’t really given much thought to a proper warm-up routine (you wouldn’t be the first!). But warm-up exercises and stretches do come with numerous benefits that’ll make you want to reconsider that truncated workout.
Why Warm Up?
“Warming up [before exercise] can help boost your flexibility and athletic performance and reduce your chance of injury,” says Jessica Schatz, yoga and Pilates instructor in Los Angeles. Not to mention that warming up can mentally prepare you for your workout.
Related: 6 Simple Glute Stretches to Do Every Single Day
How Long Should You Warm Up For?
To make sure your muscles, joints, and brain are ready for the activity ahead, spend at least five to 10 minutes warming up. A general rule of thumb, “the more intense your workout, the longer your warm-up should be,” Schatz says.
When warming up, you should focus on dynamic movements that use full ranges of motion and mimic some of the muscle movements you’ll be doing during your chosen activity. Below, Schatz walks through, step by step, how to warm up properly and safely before four different types of exercise: running, cycling, walking, and swimming.
Warm-up Exercises for Running
Frankensteins
Getty Images
Stand with your feet together.
Swing your right leg straight out in front of you to about hip level (or however high you can without rounding your back forward).
At the same time reach your left hand out as if to tap your right toes (don’t worry if you can’t actually touch fingers to toes!).
Lower your right leg and step forward onto it, then repeat on the other side, touching opposite hand to toes each time. If you don’t have space to progress forward, just return the right leg to your standing position and switch legs and arms without the step forward.
Continue for 30 seconds.
Small Arm Circles
Getty Images
Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart and lift both arms out at shoulder height, palms facing down.
Make small circles in one direction for 30 seconds, then witch directions for another 30 seconds.
Quad and Piriformis Walk (Thigh and Glute Stretch)
Getty Images
Part 1: Quad Stretch
Stand with your feet hip-width apart.
Draw your left foot up behind you toward your butt for a basic quad stretch, holding the left foot and pulling your thigh taught with your left hand.
Hold for 20 to 30 seconds.
Release your left foot and step it forward.
Repeat on the opposite side, pulling your right foot back behind you for a quad stretch.
Hold for 20 to 30 seconds.
Release your right foot and step it forward to go into a piriformis stretch...
Getty Images
Part 2: Piriformis Stretch
Cross your left ankle over your right knee/lower thigh to create a Figure 4, feeling a stretch in the left glute and outer hip.
Hinge slightly at the hips and bend your right leg, “sitting back” to deepen the stretch.
Hold for 20 to 30 seconds.
Release your left leg and it step forward.
Repeat on the opposite side, holding for another 20 to 30 seconds
Related: How to Do Calf Raises to Fire Up Your Leg Muscles and Improve Your Balance
Warm-up Exercises for Cycling
Low Lunge With Spinal Twist
Getty Images
Start on the floor on your hands and knees—wrists aligned under shoulders and knees under hips.
Extend your legs behind you so your body forms one long line (or high plank).
Step your left foot up and place it by your left hand into a low lunge stretch—keep your right leg straight or lower your right knee to the floor to make it less intense.
Hold this lunge position for one or two breath cycles to stretch your the front of the right hip and inner thigh.
From here, keep your right hand anchored on the flor and rotate your upper body to the left while lifting your left arm to the ceiling. (Keep your hips square as you rotate through the upper back.)
Hold for three seconds, then repeat on the other leg.
Continue alternating for one minute.
Shoulder Bridges (Glute Bridges)
Getty Images
Lie face up on floor with your knees bent and feet flat on floor, hip distance apart, heels about six inches in front of butt.
Squeeze your glutes and push into your feet to lift your hips hips up into a bridge.
Hold for three seconds while actively squeezing your glutes, then slowly lower back to the starting position.
Repeat, continuing for one minute.
Related: 5 Healthy Benefits of Spin Class, No Matter Your Fitness Level
Warm-up Exercises for Walking
Ankle Circles
Getty Images
Stand with your feet hip-width apart.
Shift weight onto your right foot and lift your left leg off ground in front of you.
Slowly flex your left ankle and make circles in the air with your toes.
Do six to eight circles, then reverse directions and do six to eight more.
Switch sides and repeat.
Leg Swings
Getty Images
Stand with your feet hip-width apart.
Shift weight onto your right foot and swing the left leg loosely from the hip in a front-to-back motion. Don't let your foot swing any higher than one foot or so off the ground.
Do 15 to 20 swings per leg.
Small, Medium, and Large Arm Circles
Getty Images
Stand with your feet hip-width apart and extend both arms out at shoulder height, palms facing down.
Make 10 to 12 small backward circles with your arms.
Start with small circles and let them get progressively wider, finishing with large circles that use your entire arm.
Shake out your arms and then do 10 to 12 forward circles, starting small and getting progressively bigger.
Related: 6 Unexpected Health Benefits of Walking
Warm-up Exercises for Swimming
Inchworms
Getty Images
Stand with your feet hip-width apart.
Bend your knees slightly and round spine forward, reaching your hands toward floor.
Keeping your feet in the same position, walk your hands forward until your body forms one long line (into a high plank).
Hold here for one breath cycle, then walk your hands backward and return to standing position.
Repeat 8 to 10 times.
Shoulder Circles
Getty Images
Stand with your feet hip-width apart and arms relaxed at your sides.
Lift your shoulders up toward your ears, circling them back, down, and around.
Do 10 shoulder rolls in this direction and then repeat in the opposite direction, rolling them up, forward, and down.
Single Arm Circles
Getty Images
Stand with your feet hip-width apart and swing one arm forward, up, and around to the back in a circle, letting your torso twist slightly in the direction of the circling arm.
Do five circles in each direction with the same arm, and then switch arms and repeat.
Related: 5 Hip Mobility Exercises for Stronger, Pain-Free Hips
For more Real Simple news, make sure to sign up for our newsletter!
Read the original article on Real Simple.
