Take the strain off those aching muscles with our essential exercise tips for warm up stretches this winter.
Warming up your muscles and stretching pre-exercise and post-workout is always important, and no more so than in winter when your body takes that little bit longer to get started.
To help you with those early morning January runs and post-work gym workouts, Fitness First’s health and fitness expert AJ Perera lends us some top tips.
Warming Up
Colder temperatures require individuals to warm up their bodies for a longer period of time, so stretching for winter exercise is crucial. The cold weather makes muscles tighter and less elastic. Therefore, muscles are much more liable to injury. A good stretching routine will warm up the muscles to prevent tears and injuries.
Most people warm up for 5 – 10 minutes and stretch for 3 – 5 minutes, so try adding 5 to 10 minutes to your normal workout stretching routine in the winter will warm up your muscles to protect them during the cold weather.
Stretching
Here are AJ’s top four stretches ideal for doing after a 10 – 15 minute jog or walk warm up.
1. The Lower Back Stretch
Place your hands on your hips with your feet shoulder width apart and lean back. You should feeling a nice warm sensation through your lower back. Hold that for 10-15 seconds and remember to breathe while you do so.
2. The Hamstring Stretch
Find a bench and put one foot out in front with your toe pointing up. Bend from your hips, keeping your back nice and straight so your chest goes towards your toe. Hold that stretch for 10-15 seconds, you should feel a nice stretch down the back of your upper leg through the hamstring. Remember to do both sides and to breathe.
3. The Calf Muscle Stretch
Find something to hold on to, a tree will do and push against it making sure your back heel is on the ground. The further back your heel is, the greater the stretch you’ll feel. Hold for 10-15 seconds and then repeat on the other side.
4. The Quadriceps Stretch
Using something to help you balance, bring one leg up into the kneecap and hold. Keep your body in a nice straight line, shoulders back, feeling the stretch through the front of your leg. Hold for 10-15 seconds and repeat on the opposite side.