| Warming up before exercising is a must. You need to | | | | comfortable for up to 10 times (20 would be too light |
| increase your body temperature and warm-up your | | | | of a weight). For me, this ends up being 30-35 lbs, |
| muscles. Why? Well we all know what happens to a | | | | depending on what day it is. Next, find a spot on the |
| cold rubber band when you try to stretch it. Also, at | | | | floor that gives you plenty of room for a push-up |
| a relaxed state, most of your blood is within your | | | | position. Here's the routine: |
| internal organs, not your muscles. Warming up | | | | - Squats |
| through physical activity will increase your heart rate, | | | | - Push-ups (still holding dumbbells) |
| body temperature, and flow of blood to your | | | | - Shoulder presses |
| muscles. | | | | - Bicep curls |
| The American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) | | | | - Upright rows |
| recommends that warm-ups should take about five | | | | - Repeat |
| to ten minutes. In my experience, the older (or | | | | You can modify this list any way you want, but in |
| colder) you are, the longer you need to thoroughly | | | | my experience, this is a great full-body warm-up. I |
| warm up. It's pretty much based on your intensity | | | | typically start out doing 10 reps of everything until I |
| level. | | | | get fatigued (with push-ups, shoulder presses, or |
| My warm-ups consist of mainly riding the elliptical | | | | curls). As I fatigue, I decrease the reps to 6, 4, and |
| cross trainer because it is low-impact and works both | | | | even down to 1. The key is to go from one exercise |
| my upper and lower body. But this can get boring | | | | to the other without pause, sort of like what you |
| especially if you want to hit the weight room right | | | | imagine in a military boot camp. |
| away. | | | | Once you complete this exercise (when you can't go |
| Recently I discovered a way to warm-up the whole | | | | on any more than 1 rep) and you are not yet fully |
| body while using a modified hybrid workout routine. | | | | warmed up yet, take a minute or two break, grab a |
| What's a hybrid routine? Well if hybrid cars use a | | | | lighter pair of dumbbells and go at it again. I warm |
| mixture of energy sources, hybrid workouts use a | | | | you, though, that if you do this warm-up properly, |
| mixture of exercises. For example, you can take a | | | | you will be breathing hard and heavy because you |
| pair of dumbbells and curl them up, and at the top of | | | | are taxing your whole body. To speed things up, do |
| contraction you can flow right into a shoulder press. | | | | more squats and push-ups as these require major |
| This is an example of a biceps curl and shoulder press | | | | muscle systems and heavy weight (body weight). |
| hybrid workout. | | | | Next time you're stuck with a boring cardiovascular |
| Warm-Up Routine | | | | warm-up, head over to the weight room and get |
| For warming up the whole body, try this out. All you | | | | your pump on! |
| need is a pair of dumbbells that you can curl | | | | |