Jumping in Place warm up exercise

Jumping in Place is also called Walking or Lunging in Place, this is an excellent stretching and cardio conditioning exercise.
 

1. Begin this exercise standing with feet together.
    
2. Take a small jump and get your right foot forward and left foot backwards. Let the right one be bent and left completely straight.
    
3. Additionally swing your arms so that when you jump with your right foot forward the left hand is raised straight upwards and the left one is swinging backwards.
    
4. Keep lunging right and left in smooth motion. Swing your arms with each lunging motion of the feet and repeat.
    

Importance of Warm ups for Sports

Many people get into their exercise routines without proper warm up. This is not a very wise move and it will be difficult to get your body to the state where it is actually ready for the training you are going to give it.

The problem with this kind of approach in training is that the muscles are unprepared and the heart is also unprepared for the sudden action. Such an approach is a recipe for disaster as this is one of the major causes of injuries in sports.

The first thing is that many times we get into sports from a position of rest. We might have been sitting down for a long time, might have woken up from sleep or we might just have finished a whole day’s work.

The metabolism is in a basal rate, the muscles are mostly in their contracted and shortened form. Therefore to get into sports, we need to wake up the body and prepare the muscles for the intensive activity to follow.

The best way that this is achieved is by warming up which should involve a short jog and some stretching exercise or lifting light weights. This gets the blood flowing, gets your muscles activated and relaxed and sends oxygen to the different parts of the body.

Therefore when you get into the real thing, you are less likely to overstretch a muscle or stress the body as it has already been moved to a higher state and is prepared for the increased activity of your sports.
 

ExerciseGoals.com Recommends - The Stretching Handbook.

Stretching Exercises

• Neck Rolls
   
• Lunges/ Achilles Tendon Stretches
   
• Hamstring Stretches - Hurdler's Stretches, Combination Hamstring Stretches
   
• Side Bends, Forward Bends, Seated Forward Bends, Standing Twists and Windmills Exercise.
   
• Core Stretches - Lower Back Stabilizers/Erector Spinae Stretches.
   
• Upper/Lower Back Stretching Exercises.
   
• Quadriceps Stretches, Inner Thigh Stretches, Hip Stretches.
   
• Spinal Twists, Hanging Stretches, Abdominal Stretches.
   
• High Knees Exercise, Jumping in Place.
   
• Cool Down Stretches.
   

Back to Weight Training Tips Homepage.