A great way to warm up is to do a low impact exercise such as jogging or cycling for example. There are many reasons to warm up/stretch but the main reason is to prevent injury and prepare your body for exercise.
Warming up/Stretching helps the muscles increase their elasticity meaning they are more prepared for more intensive exercises. An increase in the elasticity makes the muscles and tissues more flexible and relaxed resulting in you having less chance of being injured or injuring yourself during sport.
It is also important to warm up before exercise to raise your heart rate, raising your heart rate gradually before exercise increases the function of the heart and prepares it for a greater increase of oxygen. Not properly warming up and going straight into an intensive exercise can put a lot of stress on the heart.
On completing a good warm up and stretch you will feel more prepared for your activity and it will help reduce the feeling of your muscles ‘burning’ which is a buildup of lactic acid, stretching, warming up and warming down reduce the effects of lactic acid meaning you can get more out of your activity and helps you to be more prepared for next time.
If you do feel sore or injured, our qualified kidderminster physiotherapists at Midlands Physiotherapy & Sports Injury Clinics can help – call us today on 01562 754380 or book online.
