How do you warm up for bodybuilding?

Sometimes forgotten, often neglected, thewarm-up for bodybuilding is an essential step in avoiding injury. But to warm up properly, you need to leave nothing to chance. And if you're in the habit of doing a few minutes of cardio on a treadmill before your workouts, then you'll want to read this article. Discover my advice and some exercises to prepare your body for exercise.

The role of the warm-up

Whether beginner or experienced, many bodybuilders tend to "forget" the warm-up. Yet it's an essential step before every sports session, as it prepares the whole body for the stresses you're about to put on it.

Neglecting the warm-up in bodybuilding can have serious consequences. It considerably increases the risk of injuriesas shown by this study by three professors at Duke University (United States).

A warm-up prepares your body for exercise by gently moving it from a period of rest to sustained effort. It should therefore be progressive. Muscle temperature will rise, loosening the natural rigidity of your muscles, tendons and joints.

Your warm-up is also a good way to take care of your body. vascular system and cardio-respiratory. Your heart and breathing rates, as well as your oxygen consumption, will increase. Blood pressure will be lower and circulation improved.

Your performance will suffer, as proven by another scientific study carried out in 2003 by David Bishopan Australian professor.

Finally, the warm-up before weight training also serves as a mental preparationwhich is no mean feat of conditioning.

So don't think of it as a waste of time, but rather as a guarantee that your workout will go smoothly.

General warm-up VS local warm-up

Heel-and-toe, knee raises, push-ups, sit-ups... There are a multitude of exercises you're probably familiar with to warm up. But are they really effective?

Whatever your training method (full body, half body, push pull legs, body weight, etc.), your warm-up must be adapted to the content of your session. This is known aslocalized heating.

Its objective is to focus on muscles and on the joints you'll be using next.

With rubber bands, a body-building pulleyWith 1 or 2 kilo weights, or even without equipment, there's a wide range of exercises to prepare your legs, back, pectorals, deltoids, biceps or triceps.

In addition to the various muscle groupsA joint warm-up will protect your elbows, shoulders, wrists and knees.

This type of warm-up is really the one I recommend if you want to optimize your bodybuilding session.

L'general warm-up is designed for physical activities such as running or soccer. Its main aim is to increase heart rate, not to prepare your muscles for lifting weights.

The best warm-up exercises for bodybuilding

Warming up pectoral muscles

Warming up your pectorals doesn't just mean targeting this muscle group. In fact, you'll need to work theall muscles that will be involved during the session. These include the deltoids, biceps, triceps and back, as well as the wrist, elbow and shoulder joints.

Here are a few tips warm-up exercises suitable for low loads :

• Shoulder rotations with outstretched arms;
• The L-fly with pulley, elastics or small dumbbells;
• The biceps curl with an empty bar;
• Pulley tricep extensions;
• Seated rowing with low pulley.

Once you've warmed up your various muscles, start your first set of pectoral exercises with an empty barbell. Then gradually increase the load.

Back warm-up

As with the pectoral muscles, a good back warm-up involves engaging different muscles (lumbarbiceps, triceps, deltoids, etc.).

Including these exercises at the beginning of your session will allow you to reduce pain and injuries:

• 90-degree lumbar bench extensions;
• Low pulley curl;
• The bird on the high pulley;
• Neck extensions;
• Rowing yates at the bar.

Shoulder warm-up

How to make a good shoulder warm-up ?

The shoulders are an extremely fragile area, particularly in terms of the rotator cuff.

Before trying to develop them with military bench press or any other exercise, it is even more important to plan a upper body warm-up exercises. To do this, reuse the exercises suggested for the pectoral and back muscles.

Next, I recommend that you focus on the shoulders by doing :

• Internal and external rotations, with elastics or pulley;
• L-fly;
• Side elevations.

Lower body warm-up

Before you embark on a leggy session at the gym, a lower body warm-up is essential.

Muscles: lumbar, glutes, calves, hamstrings and quadriceps. For joint warm-up, the hips, knees and ankles should not be neglected.

Here's a list of exercises designed to warm up the legs with very little weight:

• The leg extension ;
• The bodyweight squat (or air squat);
• Straight leg deadlift ;
• The thigh press;
• Hack squat.

Don't hesitate to take the time to take care of your movements during the warm-up. This will make you more efficient later on.

Can you warm up with cardio?

If you're a gym-goer, you've probably seen people warming up on a treadmill, rowing machine or bike. Indeed, many believe that cardio before strength training makes sense and can replace warm-ups. As a sports coach, it's my job to make you aware of this.

Unfortunately, the cardio warm-up is not suitable. Under no circumstances should it replace the exercises described above. On the contrary, the two can be complementary.

Before a workout, you can do 10 minutes of slow cardio to raise your body temperature. Next, perform your localized bodybuilding warm-up to prepare your muscles for the workout. tendons and joints. Finally, start your session.

This sequence is coherent and will prepare your body well. However, unlike the localized warm-up, cardio is not essential.

Doing cardio before your workout can even be counter-productive. If it's too intense, it will tire you out and reduce your performances in weight training.

If your goal is to lose weightIt's a good idea to add a little cardio at the end of your session. This will help you burn even more calories.

To sum up, here are 5 tips I give my students to optimize their warm-up:

• Learn to time your warm-up: it should be neither too short nor too long.
• Adopt the right posture and master the execution of each of your warm-up exercises.
• Avoid stretching before a workout, or your performance will suffer. To find out more, I invite you to read this article on stretching in bodybuilding.
• The older you get, the more important it is to take the time to warm up.
• Don't neglect your breathing.

Conclusion

As all the greats will tell you athletesThe warm-up in bodybuilding is essential and should not be neglected. It's an essential step in preparing the body for the effort required to build muscle. You now have all the keys you need to train safely and without injury.

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