A few minutes to warm up at home

For ordinary healthy people to exercise at home, 3 to 10 minutes of warm-up is enough. There is no need to stick to a fixed duration. Whether it is enough depends on the physical condition and not the timer.

To be honest, I ran into a lot of pitfalls when I first started working out at home. I followed the trend and watched professional players’ competition preparation vlogs, saying that you need to warm up for 15 minutes to avoid injury. Before each training session, I did jumping jacks and walking lunges. After 15 minutes of tossing, I sweated half a liter. After just two lifts, the dumbbells became weak. Half of the strength of the main training was consumed by the warm-up, and then I realized that it was a requirement for heavy powerlifting. Why should I, an ordinary person who only practices for thirty or forty minutes at a time, join in the fun?

Of course, it doesn’t mean that the shorter the warm-up is, the better. It depends on what you are practicing that day. If you plan to go high intensity, such as Tabata and Les Mills barbell exercises, which involve vigorous jumping and use all joints, then the warm-up should be done for 8-10 minutes. Turn away the load-bearing joints of the shoulders, hips, knees, and ankles, do some high leg raises, and high fives under the crotch to slowly increase the heart rate. Otherwise, when you land on the ground, your feet will become weak and your feet will twist and turn. If you plan to do low-intensity exercises today, such as mat Pilates, several sets of glute bridge clam poses, or even static yoga for half an hour, then 3 minutes or even 2 minutes are enough. Just move the parts you want to use. Warming up for too long will make the target muscle groups sore in advance, and the main training will not be effective at all.

Nowadays, there is quite a fierce debate on the Internet about the length of warm-up. One group is the "duration party", saying that no matter what you practice, you must warm up for more than 10 minutes, otherwise you will be irresponsible to yourself.； The other group is the "useless warm-up party", who say that home training is low-intensity and it's okay to skip this step completely. In fact, both sides are a bit extreme. The former imposes the standards of vocational training on ordinary people, while the latter most likely has never suffered any injuries - I was too hot last summer, so I jumped up and danced HIIT for 20 minutes after taking a shower. When I landed, my ankle felt soft and swollen like a water-filled bun. I couldn't go downstairs to pick up the express delivery for half a month, which was really a loss to my grandma's house.

The sports rehabilitation circle also has a more flexible standard. If you have an old injury, such as a rotator cuff injury or knee effusion, you really can’t waste time in warming up. You have to fully activate the injured area. For example, if you have a bad shoulder, do a few sets of Lucky Cat and elastic band external rotation. Wait until the affected area has obvious heat and there is no pain when moving. Sometimes even 15 minutes is normal. Don’t make the recurrence of old injuries more troublesome just to save time.

Oh, by the way, don’t treat static stretching as a warm-up. Many people warm up by standing there and pressing their legs and arms for five minutes. That is stretching when they are cold, which can easily strain muscles. The warm-up must be dynamic. Even if you jump on the spot for two minutes and twist your waist to the music, it will be more effective than standing stiff and pressing your legs.

To be honest, there is no need to worry about the number of minutes. In winter, in a house without heating in the south, your whole body will be stiff as soon as you crawl out of bed. Then you have to warm up slowly for a while, and wait until your hands and feet are warm before moving.； In the dog days of summer, you have just finished doing the housework and are sweating all over your body. You plan to do 20 minutes of butt training. You can turn your hips twice, move your knees and then go directly to the glute bridge. It is a complete waste of energy to squeeze in 10 minutes of warm-up. The original purpose of home fitness is to be convenient and comfortable. Don’t be kidnapped by a number. Being comfortable and not injured after practicing is better than anything else.