Use very light weight and high reps for the first set of each bodypart worked. (Begin with 25% of one-rep max and use strict form.) Slowly increase the weight used over the course of your workout, pyramiding up to the heaviest amount. For a cardio workout, your warm-up should: increase your heart rate, blood pressure, oxygen consumption, dilation of blood vessels, joint lubrication and muscle and tendon elasticity. It should baby&youpostpregnancyabdominal&postureconditioning also include: Low-level aerobic activity that uses the same muscle groups and similar movement patterns that will be used during the main workout. Static stretches for all major muscles groups, especially the lower body.

A PhD, with the department baby&youpostpregnancyabdominal&postureconditioning of exercise science and physical education at State University, agrees. "Warming up implies temperature, but just increasing body temperature does not mean your muscles are ready for intense activity." She supports the practice of moving through the entire range of motion during the warm-up phase of a workout to not only increase muscle temperature, but to also stretch the muscles. Warm-ups are important not only for injury prevention but also for optimal strength and performance. Powerlifters and strength trainers alike lift light weights and thoroughly warm up before going heavy. Whether you''re bodybuilding, doing aerobics, swimming, mountain-biking, rock climbing or even doing yoga, your mind and body benefit significantly by warming up, enhancing both your enjoyment of the experience and the results.

And average gym-goers, who juggle work, family and other responsibilities--how would you feel about an all-in-one workout for building muscle and improving your cardiorespiratory capacity? As a personal trainer, the first thing I have my clients do when I meet them for their workouts is warm up. And when I teach any type of aerobics class or even a body toning class, we don''t jump right into the high-intensity stuff -- we warm up first. Walking from your car to the gym does not count as warming up. If you''re getting the drift, you probably realize that warming up is crucial to every type baby&youpostpregnancyabdominal&postureconditioning of workout, and any sport, for that matter.

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