START WITH A LITTLE AEROBIC EXERCISE. FOLLOW IT WITH SOME
STRETCHING AND THEN SOME LIFTING WITH LIGHT WEIGHTS. DO THIS
DAILY BEFORE YOU START TOSSING THE BIG WEIGHTS AROUND.
Most workout wonks agree that you need to do some warming
up before you pump iron.
Here’s why. When you warm up, you pump blood into your
muscles and elevate their temperature. This in turn makes
them less susceptible to painful pulls and tears. Common sense
indicates that if the muscle is warmed up, the body is better
prepared to more effectively recruit the muscle for exercise,
and there might be less chance of damaging the muscle.
THE STRETCHING TRUTH
We’re going to mention this first because a lot of guys
were taught wrong. You may have been told to always stretch
before a workout. Don’t. That is, don’t stretch
first thing. Don’t stretch a muscle that isn’t
already warmed up.
We do want you to stretch. But we want you to warm up the
muscles first with some light aerobics. Then, your stretches
should be specific to the muscles you’ll be working,
and they should also be relatively brief. Brief doesn’t
mean careless, though: You can cause injuries to the very
muscles you’re trying to protect if you stretch too
vigorously, too roughly, or too far.
We don’t want you pulling muscles, but a few minutes
of stretching before and after pumping iron clearly promotes
flexibility and prevents you from suffering what critics once
carped would inevitably happen to those who lift weights:
becoming muscle-bound.
Static stretching is safest. That means that you gently, slowly
stretch a muscle through its full range of motion. Stretch
to the point at which you feel resistance or tightness; hold
and then ease off. Do not stretch to the point of pain.
Do each stretch once or twice, and hold the maximum position
10 seconds. In subsequent stretching sessions, you can gradually
stretch farther, increasing your flexibility.
The easiest way to hurt yourself is to bounce while stretching.
Bouncing causes a reflex contraction that can cause a muscle
pull or tear. You can stretch the muscle longer if you do
it slowly because you don’t kick in this reflex.
AEROBICS
The best way to give your body an overall, general warmup
before lifting is to do aerobic exercise. That doesn’t
mean jumping around to loud music as if there’s
cayenne pepper in your jock, unless you particularly like
cayenne pepper and loud music. Treadmills and stationary
bicycles give you a less frenetic aerobic workout. You
can try other aerobics machines, too. Or do some light
jogging and walking, and swing your arms a bit. How long
do you need to do this aerobic stuff?
Whatever
aerobic activity you choose, do it until you break into
a sweat. For most guys, that’s about 5 to 7 minutes.
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LIGHT LIFTING
Here are two cool ways to warm up the muscles you’ll
stress during your workout. |
• Use weights. Do the very exercise you’re going
to perform first, but with half the weight. Let’s say
that you’re planning to do several repetitions of the
bench press at 120 pounds. Start off by doing a few reps at
60 pounds. This allows you to stretch the muscles in a very
specific way, and it warms you up quickly.
• Use your body. You also can put your own body weight
to use as a warmup tool. Maybe you intend to start your workout
with 10 bench-press repetitions. Don’t want to fuss
with moving plates on and off the bar? Hit the floor. Do 30
pushups for a warmup, then bench-press with the full load.
The best warmup takes 10 minutes:
Do some aerobic exercise, stretch, and lift light weights
working the specific muscle group that you’re going
to exercise. Do the warmup routine in that order.
A warmup before lifting weights is especially critical if
you’re planning to lift a heavy load and do few repetitions.
The higher the weight and the fewer the number of repetitions,
the more chance you have for injury if you’re not warmed
up.
COOLDOWN
Like warming up before lifting, cooling down afterward is
overlooked by a lot of men. Here’s why it’s important.
Either during or immediately following weight training, there
is a huge increase in blood flow to the muscles. That’s
what gives you that pumped feeling and appearance.
The trouble is that now there is less blood and oxygen returning
to the heart since so much of it is in the muscle. When you
abruptly stop lifting or doing other exercise, the blood simply
pools in the muscle. Your heart needs some of the oxygen that’s
bound to the hemoglobin in your blood. If it doesn’t
get that oxygen, you could have a heart attack. You could
even die, and let’s face it, dying blows the whole workout.
It’s a pretty dire scenario but one that’s easy
to avoid. When you finish a weight training workout, do some
light aerobic exercise or a few reps with light weights. This
will squeeze blood back into your blood vessels and toward
your heart. For most men, a mere 5 minutes of this cooldown
activity will do the job.
UPPER BODY
FOUR-WAY NECK TWIST AND TILT
Stand with your back straight and your legs shoulder-width
apart. Your neck should be straight and your shoulders relaxed.
1. Slowly turn your head to the right as far as it will comfortably
go. Hold for 10 seconds. Then repeat, turning your head to
the left. Return to the starting position.
2. Without bending your upper body, tuck your chin into your
chest until you feel a mild pull in the back of your neck.
Hold for 10 seconds.
3. Slowly tilt your head back until you are looking straight
up, but not so far back that your head rests on your shoulders.
Hold for 10 seconds, then relax.
OVERHEAD SHOULDER STRETCH
1. Stand erect with your shoulders back, chest out, and feet
about shoulder-width apart. Raise your right arm overhead,
bend your elbow, and rest your right hand behind your neck,
just between your shoulder blades. Keep your left hand at
your side.
2. Use your left hand to gently push on your right elbow,
edging it toward the center of your body and farther down
behind your neck. Switch arms and repeat.
CHEST STRETCH
Place your hands on both sides of a doorway at shoulder height.
Keep your chest and head up and your knees slightly bent.
Move your upper body forward until you feel a comfortable
stretch. Hold the position for 10 seconds, but do not hold
your breath. Do once.
LOWER BODY
SPINAL TWIST
Sit on the floor with both legs extended.
1. Bend your right leg over your left leg, keeping your right
foot flat on the floor outside your left knee. Place your
left elbow on the outside of your right knee, and extend your
right arm behind you with your palm flat on the floor for
support.
2. Twist your upper body to the right by slowly looking over
your right shoulder. Apply pressure with your left elbow on
the outside of your right knee as you twist. Keep your upper
body straight. Hold, then switch sides and repeat.
BUTTERFLY STRETCH
To do a butterfly stretch, sit on the floor with your legs
bent frog-style, the soles of your feet pressed together.
Gently press your knees toward the floor with your elbows
or hands. Hold.
HAMSTRING STRETCH
Sit on the edge of a bed or bench with your right leg extended
on the bench and your left foot on the floor. Rest your right
hand on your right knee, then slowly slide your fingers to
your toes, reaching as far as is comfortable. Hold. Switch
legs and repeat. (This position takes stress off your lower
back, unlike similar exercises in which you sit on the floor.)
THIGH PULL
Stand touching a chair or wall for support. Bend your right
knee and grab your right foot with your left hand, pulling
your foot up so that your heel presses against your butt.
Hold. Switch legs and repeat.
CALF STRETCH
Stand slightly away from a wall and lean on it with your forearms,
your head resting on your hands. Place your right foot in
front of you, leg bent, your left leg straight behind you.
Slowly move your hips forward until you feel a stretch in
the calf of your left leg. Keep your left heel flat and your
toes pointed straight ahead. Hold an easy stretch for 10 seconds.
Switch legs and repeat.
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