The warm-up…the most important “meal” of the day.  But seriously…the quality of your warm-up will make or break your workout.  You say you don’t warm-up??  Well, I’d suggest that your workouts will be substantially better because of it.  If you don’t warm up or don’t know how to…here’s a “recipe” for a great warm-up!

Be sure to include:

• Light Exercise – 5 to 10 minutes of easy, light activity (walking, cycling, easy swimming) is perfect for getting your heart rate up, increasing blood flow & activating muscles.
• Sport-Specific Movements – Next, do a series of multi-joint movements that mimic your sport as much as possible. Movements like arm circles for swimming, leg swings for running & high cadence drills for cycling.
• Technique Drills – To further enhance the effect of those sport-specific movements you can use technique drills designed to hone in on particular movement patterns of your sport.
• Dynamic Stretches / Mobility Work – And finally, finish your warm-up with some dynamic exercises designed to increase mobility & range-of-motion of joints & muscles.

How long should your warm-up be? It can be as short as 15 minutes or as long as 45 minutes! The length of your warm-up depends upon the intensity of your workout (higher intensity needs more warm-up), if you have any body parts that need special treatment (a previously injured area) & your age (the older you are…the more warm-up you need).

There you go! A warm-up recipe guaranteed to produce an excellent workout! If you want more info on any of these ingredients, drop me a line at michelle@performancehigh.com!

To view some examples of warm-up exercise, click here – https://youtu.be/CCGHRX_CXS0