Warming up before working out is very important. Warming up before working out during pregnancy is even more important! It does not only loosen stiff muscles, but when done properly it can improve your performance and most importantly it will reduce your risk of injury during the workout.
Goals of the warm-up:
- preparing the body for activity
- improving coordination
- increasing efficiency of the respiratory and cardiovascular systems
- increasing awareness of correct posture and technique
- improving elasticity and contractibility of muscles
In PREGNANCY the body takes slightly longer to circulate blood to your working muscles. It’s first priority is to supply the reproductive system and baby. Therefore a longer, more gradual warm up is needed to activate the muscles and get ready for activity.
A ten minute general warm up should therefore include these two parts:
- Joint rotations
- Aerobic activity (coming soon)
.
Joint Rotations
Begin your warming up routine with joint-rotations, starting either from your toes and working your way up, or from your head and working your way down. This will lubricate the joints with synovial fluid in order to prevent friction in the joints. Perform joint rotations slowly and smoothly with a full range of motion. You can join in and follow my warming up routine on youtube.
- head
- neck
- shoulders
- elbows
- wrists
- trunk/waist
- hips
- knees
- ankles
- toes
Follow above rotations in the order given, or in the reverse order.