Today I want to give you some simple, but practical, fitness wisdom. As a fitness fanatic and competitive athlete for almost 40 years I've picked up a few things along the way and I want to pass that info onto you.
I hope it helps you.
Warming up for a workout.
Honestly most people spend more time than they need. You're not training for the Olympics here. Your fitness journey shouldn't be a time burden. Be smart with your time! You don't need to spend 30 minutes warming up. It can should be three minutes or less.
Here are the three parts that I suggest you do as a warm-up.
Part One: Do a little of whatever you are going to do for a workout. If you are benching then bench just the bar. If you are running then walk a little or jog slow. If you are doing a CrossFit workout then do the moves that you are about to do at a slower pace, with less weight or do them less dynamically.
Doing this then resting for a minute or so is all your body really needs to prepare for action.
If you are playing basketball then you may want to do some sprints starting slow and getting faster. Do this and shoot a few baskets. Your warm up should take a little longer if you are doing a more complex activity.
Part Two: Get out of breath. You may do this already in part one so this is covered but if you don't then you need to get out of breath. For most people running will do the job here. I like to get on the rower at the gym to burn off my first wind.
Have you ever heard the term "second wind"? I learned about the second wind from my coach in high school. He made us do hill sprints before a big race. I thought I was wasting my energy at first until I realized that the second wind is much stronger than the "first wind".
Make sure to get out of breath before you workout. This is a VERY important step!
Part three: Work on your weaknesses or a skill you are trying to learn. Once you get out of breath and do a few reps of what you are going to do in your workout then you need to spend a few minutes before you start getting ready to do whatever you are going to do.
Use this time to stretch if you have a weakness there. My hips are pretty tight so I spend some time doing some stretches after my warm up. That's how I improve!
If you have in injury and a sore spot this is a good time to do what needs to be done to help recovery and get better.
Some people might want to work on jump rope if that is a weakness or pull-ups or some like Olympic lifting ranges of motion. This part if different for all of us. Spend this time wisely! Get better at what you are weak at!
You do NOT need to get through a 20 minute long stretching, foam rolling and "mobility" session to get ready to workout.
If this is important to you then do it AFTER you workout. Just be aware that it's NOT going to help your fitness, prevent injury or lessen soreness. All that is very overrated.
One of the reasons that people struggle with their health journey is it takes too much darn time. I get that, I really do. I don't think it should take so much time. start to finish your workout should be 30 minutes at most.
This includes the warm up, workout and cooldown.
How is this possible?
Easy. Spend less than 5 minutes each for the warm up and cooldown. Then 15-20 minutes to workout and you are done and out the door in well under 30 minutes.
When people tell you it take an hour or more to workout it is my opinion that they are spending too much time doing either the wrong things or doing literally nothing. You need to focus your energy at the gym working out with intensity. This is how you get results long term.
At least this is how we do it.
Hope this helps.
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Excellent advice; thanks