What are the functions of warm-up exercises before fitness?

Nowadays, more and more people are aware of the benefits of exercise and start to exercise more frequently. They think they know they can achieve the results they want by exercising properly and thus ignore the warm-up exercises before fitness, thinking that these warm-up exercises are dispensable. But is this really the case? What are the functions of warm-up exercises before fitness? Let us learn about it today:

1. How long should you warm up?

It takes about 3 minutes for the body to realize how much blood it needs to send to the muscles. Warm-up exercises should last approximately 5-10 minutes and should be accompanied by stretching of the major muscle groups.

2. Why is warming up important?

To ensure safety, it is generally necessary to do a warm-up exercise before fitness exercise. The main purpose of warm-up exercise is to slightly increase the heart rate. It has two benefits:

①Can raise the body temperature of major parts of the body

② It can make more blood (oxygen) flow to the muscles, thus preparing the body for more intense activities

Stretching after light activity makes tendons more flexible because it increases body temperature and increases joint range of motion, thereby preventing joint, ligament and muscle injuries.

3. Which muscles need to be warmed up?

Warm-up exercises should focus on large muscle groups. Practitioners can warm up their legs by marching in place, turning their waists, and raising their knees. For the chest and shoulders, they can do turns, raise their arms and walk in circles, etc. Those who prefer a treadmill or skipping rope can start with 3-5 minutes of brisk walking, as well as some stretching exercises.

4. Why should you relax?

In a fitness class, once you have reached and maintained a certain exercise heart rate, it is very important to recover slowly. Relaxation has two main purposes:

① It can slow down the high-speed pulse beat frequency.

② It can return a large amount of blood to the heart and prevent it from stagnating in the legs. If exercise is stopped suddenly, it often leads to dizziness, nausea, and feelings of exhaustion, which are common symptoms of abnormal relaxation.

5. Relaxation duration

It takes about 3 minutes for the body to realize that it no longer needs to supply any more blood to the muscles. The safe relaxation time is at least 3 minutes, and 4-5 minutes is certainly better. All relaxation activities should include muscle nerves to avoid muscle soreness and tightness.

After the above introduction, I believe everyone has correctly understood what warm-up exercises before fitness are and the importance of doing these warm-up exercises. Therefore, in normal fitness exercises, everyone must not rush to exercise and ignore the warm-up exercises before fitness. Instead, they should follow the correct order, do warm-up exercises first, and then start their fitness exercises. This is the only way to achieve the safest and most effective exercise.