How Warming Up Before Exercise Can Help Protect Your Body

How Warming Up Before Exercise Can Help Protect Your Body : We all know how important it is to take care of our physical bodies—particularly if you love being active. Experiencing an injury while working out or engaging in exercise can be debilitating and discouraging. When we’re patient with ourselves and give our body what it needs, we can help protect it! Whether you’re practicing yoga or running a marathon, it’s always crucial to properly warm up your body before moving around. Here’s why warming up beforehand is always a good idea!

Helps prevent injury by increasing blood flow and muscle temperature

Your muscles need oxygen in order to function properly, and blood is what makes this happen. While exercising, particularly, blood needs even more oxygen than normal in order to work well. More blood flow means more oxygen for your muscles, and warming up the body is the perfect way to facilitate that.

With more blood flow to the muscles, they’ll be less likely to experience a strain or tear while working out. Similarly, warming up literally warms up the muscles. Increased muscle temperature also helps prevent injury while exercising.

Promotes physical readiness

Physically, your body will be better equipped to perform because of the increase in oxygen delivery. Not only does the body need more oxygen when exercising, but it also releases oxygen more readily when you exercise—the body knows what it needs!

Heart rate and circulation increase through warming up, and the joints will be loosened and better prepared for more intense activity. Additionally, warming up in a way that makes sense for your sport or activity can mean helping to increase muscle memory, thus improving physical readiness overall.

Enhances performance by improving reaction time and muscle strength

When your body temperature is raised while warming up, transmission of signals through the nerves and muscle metabolism increase. This means reaction times are improved and overall agility is increased. Particularly if you’re playing a sport, a heightened reaction time might be what keeps you from getting injured.

Gentle warm-ups can also help improve the power and strength of the muscles by allowing them to perform better while in action.

Promotes mental readiness

Warming up before any physical activity gives your mind the time it needs to focus. Ultimately, when you’re in the right mindset you’re likely to perform much better—and more safely—than if you were distracted.

A Note on Safety

If you’re headed to the gym for your workout, always be sure to use caution with the equipment. According to https://www.dsslaw.com/lawrenceville/personal-injury-lawyer, if you’re injured on someone else’s property, you may be entitled to compensation. Always ask for help with equipment if you need it! It’s better to play it safe and enjoy a good workout than to get injured.

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