Warm Ups & Stretching

[Captain Answer]

I've recently started going back to the gym and following a plan I saw in Mens health which uses four compound moves in rep sets then a 20 minute cardio session at the end.

For a warmup I will normally walk on a treadmill for a minute then progress up a few mph every 40 secs for five minutes until I'm lightly sprinting then stop and stetch out my hamstrings, calves and thighs all for 10 seconds. Then for my arms/shoulders I stretch straight above my head, straight in front, to sides, fold one arm behind my head and pull lightly at the elbow then do the other arm. I've also started doing some squats and mirroring the compound moves with a stretch band before going onto any weights

I was just wondering if I should be doing anything else or what other people do for a warmup other than running which I find a bit dull

Edited by Captain Answer on Friday 30th July 11:43

[anonymous-user]

10 minute row for me then stretches.

Edited by anonymous-user on Friday 30th July 11:06

[Buzz word]

It seems to be a current thought that static pre streching is a bad thing.

http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory?id=1038...

Post workout I think people say it's good. Just pre seems to be against now. Seemingly it can harm performance and make you more suceptable to injury. I think dynamic stuff to warm up is ok though. Like you mention replicating the squat move pre lift. I tend to do that too as I figure it is warming up all the bits I will want to use but without the over extension of streching.

[dirty boy]

garyhun said:

10 minute row for me then stretches.

Edited by garyhun on Friday 30th July 11:06

I just do a 500m row, then a few light stretches relevant to that session.

I do more stretching after a session to be honest.

[jimbobsimmonds]

i used to do a 5 minute cycle followed by a reasonably intense 5 minute row... get the heart up and the blood pumping...

however, it should be noted that at the time i was 18 and could go in on a january morning, lift everything to my maximum from cold without pulling so much as a finger muscle... lucky i guess :-)

[GMJ]

Static stretching before your session is a big no no. Unless you are trying to correct muscle imbalances.

Basically, a static stretch will inhibit the motor nerve impulses to that muscle for a time.

Hence if your doing a bench press the last thing you want to do is inhibit your pec muscles with a static stretch.

However, dynamic stretches that mimic the exercises you're going to do increase the neural drive to the muscles.

[Captain Answer]

Thanks everyone for your replies, I will give my static stretches before workout the boot and increase my dynamic stetching with some extra movements.

I always do a warmdown with some static stetches which I will keep in place, the pre static stretches I was shown when I was shown to do before a workout when I was in a different gym a few years ago.