RESPECT YOUR JOINTS. Warm Up Before Activity.

Let’s Warm-Up Before We Play

Whether you’re getting ready to do acroyoga, slackline, go running, or do some handstands, it’s important to warm up the body. When you warm up the joints and muscles, it gets the fluids moving and the heart pumping. The body likes warming up before you put a lot of high impact or weight on your joints. Without warming up, your muscles and joints can get mad or even injured. A great way to avoid such a thing is to stretch out and do some simple low impact warm up exercises. Here are 3 warm up exercises that are good to do before starting any activity.

@lindsikaycircus getting her warm up on with Virabhadrasana 2 (Warrior 2 pose)

3 Warm-Ups Exercises

  1. SHORT STEP LUNGE WALKS
  2. PUSH UP – SIDE PLANK COMBO
  3. TIPPY TOE SQUAT – TO CROW

With all of these warm ups, it’s good to do some ankle and wrist rolls before starting. Let’s call them pre-warm-ups. Anything you can do to help loosen up your joints before using them is great. Each of the warm ups target different muscles with some overlap. For example, exercise 1 is targeting the quads and hamstrings.  Exercise 3 is targeting the calves and ankles as well as the quads and hamstrings. All of them are working out either the ankle or wrist joints and surrounding muscles. I like this because we use our ankles and wrists all day long. It’s nice to stretch and strengthen areas we constantly use, to help us to stay healthy and strong.

 

1. Short Step Lunge Walks

This exercise is pretty much the same set up as a normal lunge walk, but you take much smaller steps. For those of you unfamiliar with a lunge walk, let me explain. A basic lunge walk is where you go from a standing position to taking a step forward approximately 2.5′ with one foot. From there you take the back leg and dip that knee to the ground. Push back up to standing position, take a step with the opposite foot and dip that knee to the ground. With Short Step Lunge Walks, you cut the distance you are stepping in half.

It’s important to keep the front knee stacked over the ankle when you dip down. Reposition your back foot backward slightly in order to keep the knee stack and dip low enough. This forces you to work those quads and calve muscles. Check out the video for an example…

 

2. Push Up / Side Plank Combo

This exercise targets the biceps, triceps, and core–as well as working the wrists. To start, get into a plank position or push up position. Do 1 push up, then transition to side plank with the left hand to the sky and the right hand grounded. Hold the side plank for a moment with the core engaged and the hips lifted. Then return to plank position and do 1 push up. Go to side plank again on the other side with the left hand grounded. Return to plank position and do 1 more push up. Next, crawl your feet to your hands putting you into a forward fold. Take a breath here then crawl your hands forward until you’re in plank pose again, and repeat the prior instructions. Do this as many times as you want, just do it slow and controlled. Form is more important than quantity of reps.

 

 

3. Tip-Toe Squat To Crow

This exercise is a great calf workout as well as a fun balancing challenge. To start, take a normal standing position with feet hip distance apart. Then activate your calves and ankles and push yourself up onto your tippy toes. From here, do a slow squat until your low enough to put your hands on the ground in front of you. This should set you up to go right into crow pose, with your knees close to your elbows. You can place your knees on your elbows and go right into the arm balance, or do one leg at a time. I will demo both ways in the video below. Take it slow and work the progression of one leg at a time to build up the wrist strength if needed. Again, form and conscious activation of key muscles is the focus.

 

All Warmed Up & Ready To Play

I hope these exercises have provided some fun as well as a little challenge to your day. Now your body will be more prepared for what ever fun activity you’re doing next. If you liked these exercises, be sure to check in with us again. There’s more fun training blogs to come. Thanks for reading and have a wonderful adventure out there.

 

Peace,

Buddy Thomas