Embracing the Warm-Up: A Key to Unlocking Your Fitness Potential

By Leo Shveyd, Co-Owner of Advanced Wellness

As fitness professionals, we understand that a productive training session begins long before the first rep is ever performed. Every seasoned athlete or fitness advocate knows that warming up is non-negotiable. Not only does it prepare the body for physical exertion, but it also enhances overall performance and minimizes the risk of injury. In this article, we’ll delve into the importance of warming up, the essential components of a good warm-up, why variation matters, and our unique 2020 warm-up routine at Advanced Wellness.

Warm-Up Fundamentals

In fitness, there are four key elements that can be cultivated to achieve holistic improvement: the spirit, the mind, the body, and the craft or skill. Each of these elements requires a thoughtful, gradual approach to reach its peak performance. This progression begins with the warm-up—a vital phase of any effective workout.

The Benefits of Warming Up:

1. Stimulating the Respiratory System: A proper warm-up increases your respiratory rate, enhancing the exchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide. This boost prepares your body to efficiently perform during more intense activity.

2. Increasing Body Temperature: Elevated body temperature enhances the elasticity of muscles and connective tissues, making them less prone to injury. It also enhances enzymatic activity, which supports energy production.

3. Accessing Your Full Range of Mobility: Warming up allows you to prepare your joints and muscles, giving you a greater range of motion. This aspect is crucial for executing movements correctly and safely.

4. Improving Motor Control and Coordination: The warm-up period helps in refining your motor control. This improvement is particularly noticeable as you transition from simple movements to more complex ones, which require more coordination and precision.

A cornerstone of our warm-up at Advanced Wellness is nasal breathing. This technique fuels the body with oxygen-rich blood and improves performance. Moreover, focusing on breath during warm-up serves an additional purpose—it calms the nervous system and fosters a deeper connection with one’s body. Think of your warm-up as a conversation: Are you listening to what your body is communicating today?

Why Vary Your Warm-Up?

Each year, we at Advanced Wellness commit to designing a fresh, innovative warm-up routine to be implemented over the next 12 months. While change can be challenging for some of our 140+ clients, the introduction of new elements provides essential mental stimulation, which promotes brain health and cognitive function. For those who thrive on novelty, we take it a step further and implement “alternative warm-up” weeks, where members can explore simplified versions of our new warm-up system.

When crafting our warm-ups, we carefully consider their primary objectives alongside developmental kinesiology concepts. We focus on “movement from the ground up” and “from the center out to the extremities,” ensuring that our routines cater to specific client limitations. Beyond our regular clientele, we also work with individuals facing targeted body-related issues. Our functional movement screens (FMS) and extensive assessments allow us to gather crucial data, recognize patterns, and better understand our clients’ limitations. This data-driven approach enables us to tailor warm-up routines that address highly prevalent issues within our population while also considering less frequent concerns through specific prehabilitative exercises.

Our 2020 Warm-Up Routine at Advanced Wellness: Anything BUT Routine

At Advanced Wellness, our 2020 warm-up breaks the mold of typical routines. It incorporates an exciting array of elements aimed at enhancing both physical performance and mental engagement. This year’s warm-up features:

• Breathing Techniques: Specially designed to optimize oxygen intake.
• Diverse Positions and Planes of Motion: Encouraging multi-dimensional movement.
• Mobility and Stability Work: Focusing on joint health and muscular balance.
• Balance Techniques: Enhancing proprioception and overall stability.

The foundation of this routine is anything but monotonous. We believe that variety is key to keeping clients engaged and motivated while simultaneously ensuring that they can unlock new levels of performance.

Have Questions? We’re Here to Help!

If you have any inquiries regarding our 2020 warm-up routine, including specific exercises or the rationale behind each component, we encourage you to reach out.

Here’s to a successful 2020, one in which we all strive to get BETTER—mind, body, and spirit. Remember, your workout’s success begins with a proper warm-up! Whether you’re a fitness enthusiast or just starting your journey, never underestimate the power of this essential phase.