Walking into the gym ready to kill your workout is a great feeling. But you should never just jump right into your working sets. Warm up first. This gets your mind and muscles ready for those intense heavier sets. It also helps prevent injuries and sets up the pump. 

The Benefits Of Warming Up

Helps Prevent Injury

Taking the time to warm up helps prepare the muscles for what’s to come. Warm ups can include concepts such as stretching or dynamic warm ups. They should also include 2-3 light sets of your first few exercises. When doing warm up sets of a specific exercise, you establish the feel of the exercise. This helps you get the most out of your working sets. It also helps avoid injury by preparing your muscles for the heavier working sets to come.

Helps Establish Mental Focus On The Task At Hand

We know that mental focus during your workout is important. Even if it’s just a warm up set, you begin to establish the all-important mind-muscle connection. When you hit your working sets, you’re laser-focused on the task at hand. 

Improves Flexibility

If you stretch or perform a dynamic warm up, you’re helping to improve the flexibility of the working muscles. This supports your range of motion and helps prevent injury. 

Increases Blood Flow

Of course, increased blood flow ultimately leads to the pump. But it also serves to warm up and prime the muscles for the workout to come. Plus, it begins nutrient and oxygen transport to the working muscles. To optimize this, you’ll want to use both a pre-workout such as Kill It RTD and an intra-workout such as All Day You May or Code Red Aminos. Stack it with Core Creatine Monohydrate and Core Pump for an even more effective training session. Also, make sure you’re consuming a post-workout shake immediately after you’re done. If it worked for Rich, it will work for you. 

With these benefits in mind, let’s look at the types of warm ups you could perform. 

What Are The Different Types Of Warm Ups?

Stretching

When you are cold, muscles are not very flexible and your range of motion is limited. As more blood is pumped to the area, it becomes more elastic. The goal of stretching is to ensure that each part of the body is moving smoothly through its full range of motion.

Dynamic Warm-Ups

Dynamic warm ups utilize movement-based stretching exercises that enhance blood flow and prepare your body for specific exercise movements. These exercises mimic muscle movement during your workout. Jumping jacks, arm circles, knee pulls, kneeling hip circles, bent torso twists, and lateral reaches are just a few examples of exercises performed in a dynamic warm up. These movements help improve your range of motion and functional flexibility.

Warm-Up Sets 

Lifters should perform warm up sets of the first exercise for a specific muscle group. This allows your muscles and joints to get ready for the heavier sets to come. So, for example, if it’s Push Day, you’re starting with chest and continuing to shoulders and triceps. Since a compound pressing movement involves all of these muscles, begin with 2-3 light sets (some lifters do 4-5 light sets) of your bench (or machine) press, then move into your working sets.

Recap

We have seen that it is important to begin your workout by warming up. Make the most of this time by warming up your entire body. You can perform a dynamic warm up routine, do some light stretching, and perform warm up sets of your first exercise. How can you tell if you’ve warmed up enough? Your heart rate and body temperature should be increased. That means you’re all set. Don’t forget the 5% Nutrition supplements mentioned in this article, along with any other 5% supplements you’re using. The act of warming up will help you perform at your peak, decrease any chance of injury, and help decrease soreness. So get to the gym, warm up, and Kill It!