Rebecca Heck here from Impact Fitness. Let’s discuss why the warm-up before workouts is essential.
First, let me say I see a lot of people skimping on pre-workout warm-ups.
They just want to get to the heart of their sweat fest. I get it, however, the body requires these warm-ups to really be prepared for the lifting and training you’re about to do.
Why? Well, you literally need to warm your body up and get your heart rate up to be in a proper state before that workout and to help avoid injury and put the body in a proper state before that heart pumping session.
Your warm-up is just as important as the sweat fest that follows. So here’s a good example.
Let’s break this down:
- Choose a cardio activity such as on a treadmill, bike, elliptical, stair-master, or with a jump-rope, walk/jog/run, or dance. Anything to get your cardio on and get moving for at least 10 minutes.
- Start out slow and check your starting/resting heart rate. It should be between 60-100 beats per minute (BPM). Well trained athletes can be between 40-60 BPM.
- Hit your fat burning range of 60%-70%. You’ll find that range by first finding your max heart rate (HR) by subtracting your age from 220 then do the math for your 60%-70% *Example for a 45-year-old: *220-45=175 max HR, 75x.6=105(60%) 175x.7=122.5(70%). Do the math with your age and find your range!
- Within the first few minutes keep the speed 2.5-3.5.
- Check your HR. Then when ready or around minutes 3-5, increase the speed 3.0-4.0.
- Check HR and increase speed if needed.
- This will ensure your body is ready to hit the workout your about to do. If you’re looking for a challenging workout that brings results, contact me with your personal goals and I will construct workouts around the fitness level you want. As a certified personal trainer, certified IIN health coach and award-winning Fitness Universe competitor I can help you get the results you’re looking for!
Now what to do in order to keep those muscles from tightening up between workouts.
For that, I advise stretching and targeted sports massage therapy from a professional medical massage therapist. Aruna is an amazing medical massage therapist. She will keep you feeling great and recovered before, after and between workouts so you’ll be ready to hit those workouts with all you’ve got every time.
Set goals and surpass them with Rebecca’s Healthy Fitness!
Rebecca’s Healthy Fitness
Phone: 513-708-5936
Certified Personal Trainer