Warm Up Before Other Exercises

Physical exercise, especially aerobic exercise , is a very effective method of relieving stress, but not if you injure yourself in the process.

Warm-up exercises gets your body ready for more strenuous activities. Warm up exercises alone are beneficial for relieving stress, so even on the days where you are not up to a more strenuous routine, you can just do your warm-ups.

A simple walk around the block or warming up indoors using a stationary bike or treadmill, followed by a few minutes of easy stretches is enough to increase blood flow to the muscles – improving flexibility and preventing injury or soreness. Warming up also slowly increases your heart rate & breathing to ease your body into exercising.

If you are going for a run or even a brisk walk you should start with a slow walk around the block, come back home and stretch all your muscles, not just the muscles you will be using when walking. Your body functions as a unit. Then you can go for a brisk walk, making sure that you end your walk or run with 5 minutes of walking, gradually slowing down your pace, and then a few more minutes of stretching.

Alternately, you can do some lunges, marching on the spot, or dancing. Always start slowly and gradually increase intensity. After about 5 minutes you should feel warmer and be perspiring lightly.

Cooling Down is also important to let your body slowly adjust to its resting state and to prevent soreness later on. . Suddenly stopping a strenuous activity can cause dizziness as the blood can pool in your muscles. You should keep walking / moving for another five minutes to let your heart rate and body temperature to come down gradually and help to flush waste products from the muscles. Follow by a few minutes of stretching

Stretching is done after your body is already warmed up because you are more flexible when your body temperature is higher. Dynamic stretches - swinging/kicking your legs, swinging your arms in circles -are suitable as part of your warm up as the motion keeps you from cooling off. Static stretches (holding each stretch for 10 - 20 seconds)) are suitable as part of cooling down.

Warming up before aerobic exercise, which is very effective in relieving stress, is essential to preventing injuries.

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