Benefits Of Warming Up Before Exercise

It is no secret that it is important to warm up before any type of physical exercise. Even professional athletes do warm up exercises before playing any game. This is because it allows your body to prepare for more advanced and intense movement. In other words, warming up prepares your heart, lungs, and muscles for the more strenuous part of your workout. 

Warming up before proceeding towards any form of exercise, whether its working out at the gym, or playing a sport such as basketball, is beneficial to your body for many reasons. Here are some:

Less Risk Of Injuries

 A light jog or jumping jacks before you begin your exercise will allow your  muscles to warm up.  Muscles that are warmed up are able to contract more forcefully and relax quicker, which reduces the risk of injuries. This is because cold muscles have slower reflexes are not able to perform as well, and this can lead to overstretching or spraining your muscles. 

Improves Blood Flow

As you perform warm up stretches, blood flow will increase to your muscles and increase your heart rate. As blood flow increases, the temperature of blood will also rise. This is beneficial as when the temperature of blood rises, the binding of oxygen to hemoglobin weakens so oxygen is more readily available to working muscles, which will improve endurance and help you keep up your performance for a sustained period of time. At the same time, the blood vessels will dilate, thus putting less stress on the heart.

Larger Range Of Motion

As your overall body temperature increases, muscle elasticity will also improve. This means that your body parts such as shoulders, knees, and spine will be able to move to their maximum potential. Cold muscles have a much smaller range of motion as the body parts remain stiff without a proper warm up. So, warming up is necessary for increasing muscle elasticity, which will enhance speed and strength, help you perform better, and prevent any injuries caused from overstretching.

Regulates Body Temperature

Starting off with warm up exercises sends signals to your body so that it knows that there will be more intense activity required. This activates a heat-dissipation mechanisms in the body, which allows your body to cool efficiently and will prevent overheating early on. As a result, warming up can allow you to perform for a longer period of time, without burning out and exhausting yourself prematurely.

Releases Endorphins

Warming up allows your body to release endorphins, which is also known as the “feel-good” hormone for its ability to improve your mood. The release of endorphins will boost your mood throughout the duration of your exercise. 

Therefore, warming up is a very important part of any exercise, and should always be the first step before moving into any intense work out or sports. 

Do you warm up before every exercise? What types of warm up activities do you prefer? Comment below!

Best Bodyweight Exercises for Upper Body Strength

Building strength doesn’t necessarily mean going to the gym and lifting weights, it can also be done at home. However, even this training method requires the same amount of dedication, consistency, and hard work. Having said that, it is easier to be consistent with this routine rather than having to go to the gym although, going to the gym and opting for weight training will give you relatively quicker results.  The upper body muscles include (Back, chest, shoulders, triceps, biceps, and forearms). So, without further ado, let’s look at how you can increase your upper body strength at home.

Dips

Just like most other bodyweight exercises (pullups etc.) it is a compound exercise. Meaning it trains many muscles at the same time. And to increase strength, compound exercises are a must. Dips, are mainly a triceps exercise but they also force the chest and shoulders to work. It is one of the most important exercises in bodyweight training to develop muscle, and strength in the upper body.  Once you find it easy to complete 8-10 reps, you can start adding more weight to your body by filling up a bag with books and wearing it. Continuous tension is necessary to gain strength.

Wide Grip Pull-ups

Pull-ups are by far the best bodyweight exercise out there. It hits multiple muscles such as the bicep, the forearms, traps(shoulders), and the upper back. However, their greatest effect is on the lats and the biceps. Lats are the biggest muscle in the upper body and increasing their strength and training them is pertinent. And of course, it is the exercise that most helps you in getting that V-Shape. Many people confuse pull-ups and chin-ups. Remember chin-ups have an underhand grip (palms facing you), whereas, pull-ups involve overhand grip (palms facing away). 

Diamond Pushups

Diamond Pushups are a great exercise for the triceps, chest and front shoulders. It is easier to do than the dips, so you should do dips before this exercise in the whole workout. Once you have reached failure, you can switch to a normal stance pushup (taking a 10-15 second rest) and dish out as many reps as you can till failure again.

Handstand Pushups

This exercise is really difficult to do. Not only do you have to do a handstand, but you have to do a pushup while doing it as well. But don’t worry, there’s a way to be able to do it within 2-3 weeks.

Firstly, you’ll have to do a supported handstand and hold that position for as long as possible. Once you can hold for long enough, then you will do a supported handstand pushup. And eventually, you’ll be able to do with out support. Having said that, it is easier said than done, and without effort, grit, and hard work you won’t be able to achieve your goals. 

Which exercises do you use to build up upper body strength? Comment below!