A Pro Trainer on Why We Shouldn’t Skip the Warm up
I
f you already struggle to make time for
exercise, it’s tempting to burst hard and
fast into the moments you find. Don’t do
that. Minutes spent warming up and cooling
down are not wasted!
Without them you can get less-efficient work-
outs and even injuries, according to Joslyn
Thompson Rule, Nike Global Master Trainer.
We recently interviewed Joslyn about how best
to start and finish workouts — because it’s very
clear from the highly popular @joslynthomp-
sonrule Instagram feed that she’s doing some-
thing really right.
SHM: How long should a warm up be?
JTR: At least 5-10 minutes. The more intense
the workout in terms of energy expenditure or
load used, the longer your warm up should be.
Warming up is not just a bout preparing for the
movement ahead, it’s also about undoing daily
movement/posture habits, which are often
sub-optimal for performance. The shortest you
can get away? No less than 5 minutes!
SHM: What should every warm up include?
JTR: You definitely need to warm up the rel-
evant joints and movement patterns of the
exercises you are about to do. For example,
squats require hip opening mobility and acti-
vating the muscles that will be working in the
squat. This might be dynamic stretches to open
up the hip flexors, crawl patterns to link our
mind-muscle connection, goblet squats to prac-
tice the movement and activation drills to switch
on our “lazy” muscles.
SHM: Is cooling down equally important?
JTR: Yes, however it may be less specific than
the warm up. Some simple stretches, steady
state cardio or foam rolling may be your cool
down of choice. You get to know your body
and what makes it recover better.
SHM: If I only have 15 minutes to exercise
today, is warming up still essential?
JTR: They don’t have to be separate things.
Crawl patterns are a fun way to warm up but
also get you sweating — it’s probably been
some time since you were on all fours and it’s
more challenging than you remember! I suggest
five minutes of crawl patterns — bear crawls,
crab walks — followed by 10 minutes of train-
ing. If you can walk to and from your workout
space, you should be good.
ISSUE #05 | 2017 | SkinHealthMagazine.com 21
Diet & Fitness