How To Warm Up Before
Weight Training

Want to know how to warm up before doing your weight training workout? If you just want a general warm up workout, watch this video of warm up exercises here.

But if you're going to train with weights and would like to create your own warm up routine, follow these simple concepts for an effective pre-workout warm up.

You can start your warm up workout by doing any movements you like, such as jogging in place, walking, climbing the stairs at home a few times, chasing the dog around the garden, etc. Do that until you break a light sweat.

The idea here is to raise your body temperature and heart rate and direct more blood to the muscles.

After that you can do the exercise movements you're planning to do in your main workout as a kind of rehearsal, but not as intensely as in the main workout itself.

You may find that you need to warm up longer when the weather is cold or when you workout in the morning. By the same token, you may find you don't need much warming up when the weather is warm or when you workout in the afternoon or in the evening.

There are no set guidelines for how to warm up before working out. The main thing is to get to the point where all parts of your body are warm and the muscles are filled with blood. That way you'll be ready to do the more vigorous movements in your main workout.

Think of it like revving up the engine before driving off.

How To Warm Up Before Heavy Lifting

If you're going to lift heavy weights in your main workout, you should also do specific warm up exercises to ensure your safety.

Look at your main workout and find out what exercises are included and what weights you're going to use. In the warm up, do the same exercises with about half the weights, so as to warm up your muscles.

For example, let's suppose you're going to start with a squat and you're planning to hold 7 kg dumbbells in each hand.

What you should do is some rehearsal squats with a 3 - 3.5 kg dumbbell in each hand. If your next exercise is a shoulder press, warm up your shoulders in the same way, with lighter weights. But if the next exercise is another leg and buttocks exercise, you can probably afford to skip the specific warm up since you've already warmed up with squats.

Pay attention to how your body feels. If you're in any doubt, play it safe and warm up properly. Got the idea?

One thing to be careful of, though … your warm up shouldn't tire you out. In other words, it shouldn't take away a lot of the energy you'll need to complete your main workout.

So there you go! You now know how to warm up properly for any workout. Good luck! :-)

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