Day 7: Your Warm-Up Routine
Yesterday, we began the process of creating strength in our bodies; that will keep us strong and mobile to be able to move and do cardio safely, without flare and injury.
Today we are going to begin the process of creating a healthy warm up and cool down routine.
Before you perform cardio, your body must warm up. This warm up eases your body into the a workout. It’s like a slow build-up to the real work. The warm up helps you switch out of the day to day activity of your life and gets you mentally focused for what you are about to do. The warm-up starts to slowly increase your heart rate. The warm up begins the process of deeper breathing, leading to more oxygen intake and more active blood flow… and it begins to get your muscles ready to move. It loosens up the connective tissue, gets blood flow into the muscles, and gets the muscles ready for the pressure they are about to face. This is why the warm up is essential: by preparing your body for exercise, you are preventing pain and injury down the road.
A healthy warm up routine has three parts:
Foam Rolling
Static Stretching
Dynamic Stretching
Today, we are going to start with foam rolling, and then as we get to the intermediate and advanced levels, we will add in static stretching and dynamic stretching. If you are a beginner, don’t worry about missing out on these other kinds of stretching- your body isn’t ready for them yet. Foam rolling is what you need right now.
Beginner: If you are new to the AIS program and to foam rolling, watch this video and practice. Also, please take note of the modification options as well. (To learn more about foam rolling and what equipment you will need, check out this blog)
Intermediate:
I want you to continue to practice your established foam rolling routine.
Also, add in your static stretching by watching this video here.
Advanced:
I want you to continue to practice your established lower body foam rolling routine.
Add Level 4 foam rolling to your practice if you haven’t already.
Add in your static stretching by watching this video here.
And finally, end with 2 rounds of dynamic stretching, here.
For beginners, this foam rolling process may be clunky and slow in the beginning, that’s okay- it’s a totally new thing, unlike anything you have done before (probably) and it takes time to figure it out. Also, you probably have lots of knots to uncover, so going slow is important.
For the intermediate and advanced members, you can begin to think about this: there is a difference between “restorative” foam rolling and “warm-up” foam rolling. “Restorative” foam rolling is when you concentrate on holding for 30 seconds on the tight areas and releasing those knots. This is a very thorough process and can take awhile. “Warm up” foam rolling is different. If you have a big knot, yes, you should stay on it… but for the most part, “warm-up” foam rolling is a quick run through of the full body foam rolling. You will probably find that your body has a lot fewer knots after doing this foam rolling practice for awhile anyways. The goal with “warm-up” foam rolling is to cover your body with the foam roller, to get your connective tissue loose and your muscles ready for movement. It can be a quick run-through and you can do a more thorough session on a rest day. So, this means that you can keep an eye on time- how long does it take you to do a basic full body foam rolling routine? Eventually, I want you to get to a 5-7 minute warm up foam rolling routine.
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