Strength Tip #10 Always Warm Up

Warming up seems to be a theme this week! Well, most of you know I have been suffering a calf strain just because of "not" warming up adequately on my runs and I now am incorporating warm-up sets during my strength workouts. The warm-up prepares your muscles for a more strenuous workout and as mentioned in my previous post helps in enhancing your form. Besides doing the actual exercises as a warm-up you can do a more general warm-up by doing some dynamic stretches. I like the ones that are suggested in The New Rules of Lifting by Lou Shuler and Alwyn Cosgrove because they are challenging and comprehensive. The five moves are:

• Walking lunge with upper-body twist
• Lateral lunge with opposite-hand reach
• Ball bridge/Russian twist
• Inchworma
• T-push-up

You should be able to find the book online and/or at your local library.