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4 Stretches You Should Do Before A Workout

Doing regular exercises offer incomparable benefits to your body and mind. These routines improve your muscle strength, build your immune system, and enhance your endurance. 

In short, it contributes to making your life healthier and prolonging your lifespan as well. 

However, one thing everyone overlooks when deciding to workout is the stretches or warm-ups. It’s imperative to condition your body first before performing any intense exercise.

You need to gradually build your temperature up as tight muscles become looser, allowing them to function optimally. 

Thus, the purpose of stretching is crucial for any body type. This will make your body work in better condition and state, eliminating chances for injuries and muscle spasms. 

Condition your body with a good physiotherapy session at Physio Ashgrove, and check out the different stretches below so you can condition your muscles and body before starting a good workout:

1. Child’s Pose

Even when you’re not doing a yoga workout, a child’s pose is a generic kind of warm-up that’s perfect for any workout. It’s usually performed in between poses when doing yoga. It’s great for beginners and is commonly done to recover in between doing challenging yoga poses. 

This position stretches your leg areas, thighs, and hips. It opens up your back and shoulders as well. You can do this stretch as many times as possible, and if you’re not that flexible enough, that’s fine. 

Make sure you’re as comfortable as possible by using a yoga mat or some cushions to protect your knees.

This warm-up is pretty easy to execute; you can refer to the following instruction:

• Prepare and lay down your yoga mat on the floor. Kneel first with your toes together and with your knees distant apart. 
• Now, take a deep inhale and exhale. Lay down your torso in the space between your knees. Lower down your butt onto your heels from behind and extend your arms forward. With your palms facing down, you’ll be able to stretch your upper body well.
• Give your shoulders the relaxation it needs by slowly lengthening your spine and also your neck.
• Lastly, allow your head to rest on the mat while you stretch your upper body. Continue your breathing to make the stretch as effective as possible.

2. Hip Circles

This next stretch is effective for people of all ages who want to start a good workout session. The central focal part that hip circles intend to stretch is the joint area. It stabilizes the muscles around them. Add on more sets and go for larger hip circles to strengthen your hips more.

To do this, simply follow the tips:

• Stand vertically and ensure that your feet are hip-width apart. 
• This action is more effective while bending your knees a little bit. Now, hold your hips.
• Start to move your hips in a circular movement. Create big circles while rotating your lower body.
• Do clockwise movements first, and count according to your preferred settings, and do the same counter-clockwise.

3. Jumping Jacks

If you’re into doing CrossFit and have taken pre-workout supplements already, then the only thing missing is a good stretch for an intense workout. If you’re eager to warm up your body faster, this stretch won’t ever fail you. 

Jumping jacks is a straightforward move usually performed by kids and people who would love to perform cardio workouts. This gradually increases your heart rate, allowing your body to stretch and warm up, ready for the subsequent exercises fully. 

Here are ways to do this warm-up:

• Stand straight first and rest your arms on your sides.
• Now, do the jump by slightly bending your knees in the beginning as you jump in the air.
• Spread your legs open while stretching out your arms over your head. 
• Finally, you can return to the same starting position by jumping from the previous position.
• Repeat doing jumping jacks for a few sets before doing your exercises. Your body should be all set by then.

4. Donkey-Kicks

This kind of warm-up is familiar for people doing yoga. But this is also applicable and effective for everyone who plans on using their core, glutes, and shoulders for their workout. 

This stretching technique warms up these muscle areas as they are prepped up to be used for a more intense workout session.

You can execute this healthy warm-up by doing the following:

• Lay down a yoga mat on the floor. Place yourself in an all-fours position. Your knees should be below your hips, while your stretched arms should be below the shoulders.
• It’s vital to focus on your core and have it engaged in the stretch.
• Now, flex your right foot as you kick the right leg up in the air. Make sure that your back is flat and neutral so it won’t cause your back to arch.
• After kicking it up in the air or above, return your knee back again to the floor. 
• Do as many repetitions as you can for each set before proceeding to the left leg.
• Repeat the same repetitions on the left leg too.

Conclusion

All of the four mentioned stretches are great and effective for your body before doing an intense workout. Also, note that stretches can prevent you from having muscle fatigue. Overworking your muscles will end up in injuries if you don’t loosen them up first through stretches. Hopefully, you can execute some of the stretches recommended above and follow the instructions too.

Last Updated on July 6, 2021