Myth #1 Stretching is the best way to warm up before exercise.

Fact: Stretching is not the optimum way to warm up, particularly before any type of strength training or weight lifting, because your muscles are cold. Stretching cold muscles reduces the strength of muscle contractions and increases your odds of pulling or tearing a muscle. Light aerobic exercise is the best way to warm up, because it gets your muscles warm and pliable, plus increases blood flow. Then, when you do stretch, do it slowly and deliberately and stretch no further than you can hold for 5 seconds. And don’t bounce. Bouncing makes your muscles contract more to protect themselves and they can tear too easily.

Myth #2 I don’t need to warm up.

Fact: Not warming up is one of the biggest exercise mistakes anyone can make. It’s like asking someone to drive a car around the block when they’ve never driven before. They can injure them-selves. Warming up has numerous benefits, discussed above. Keep in mind, too, that a proper warmup enhances the efficiency and power of the working muscles—a benefit most people don’t realize.

Myth #3 I don’t need to warm up my legs because I use them all the time.

Fact: Not true. Your muscles are not being challenged in the same way by just walking around or normal, everyday movement. A proper warmup stimulates circulation tu your legs, preparing them for your circuit-training workout. Bottom line: Don’t neglect to warm up your legs.

Myth #4 I don’t need to warm up if I’m exercising indoors.

Fact: Light aerobic activity produces heat in your muscles; the warmth of your home or gym does little to increase your internal temperature, regardless of how high the thermostat is.

Dumbbells

These are short metal bars with either changeable plates on the end or fixed plates. They are designed to he held in one hand. You’ll want to gradually up your poundages, since challenging your muscles to lift more weight produces the body-changing results you want. Have sets of dumbbells on hand weighing 5, 10, 15, 20, and 25 pounds so that you can gradually increase the weights you use. These simple and inexpensive workout tools will work virtually every part of your body.

Exercising tubing

This equipment consists of tubes of flexible, stretchable rubber with handles on the ends for applying controlled resistance on specific muscles or groups of muscles. Exercise tubing comes in several different levels of difficulty, determined by the elasticity and by the color of the band. You may want to have two or three bands on hand in order ro increase your resistance. Because they are so portable, you can pack your exercising tubing and take them when you travel.

Exercise mat

This is a must for the home gym. It will cushion you from the hard floor when doing abdominal exercises, floor exercises, and warmup stretches.

Stability ball

Working out with a stability ball is an incredible way to sculpt your entire body. Aside from being inexpensive, this exercise tool is versatile and fun to use. You can strengthen and stretch nearly every muscle in your body (including your core), while improving balance, coordination, and posture. This piece of equipment comes in different sizes based on your height. A proper fit will help you work your way to a firmer body with better posture, more defined shs, and even less back pain.

Medicine ball

This exercise tuol is a heavy ball about the size of a volleyball that generally comes in weights from 2 to 15 pounds. It can be used with many different exercises, particularly to strengthen your core muscles.

Xerdisc

This is a circular cushion made of plastic that can be used for balance training or upper- or lower-body conditioning and is generally used for advanced exercises.

Ankle weights

These arc light weights (usually between 1 and 5 pounds) that you can strap to your ankles for adding extra challenge and intensity to certain exercises. However, these weights are not to be used when walking, logging, or running due to the high potential for leg and back injuries.

Heart-rate monitor

To keep your fat-burning fires stoked while you budd muscle, you’ll want to maintain a heart rate between 80 percent and 85 percent of your maximum heart rate. To determine your maximum heart rate, subtract your age from 220. Calculating 80 percent and 85 percent of this number provides you with your target heart-rate zone. Wear a heart-rate monitor to help keep you there. You might be thinking that wearing a heart-rate monitor is like splitting hairs. Don’t you just do the routine, burn calorics, and lose weight? Well, you might. But if you don’t wear a heart-rate monitor, you might not either. If you are exercising too intensely, you won’t be dipping into fat stores at all—you could even be burning muscle. And if you’re not elevating your heart rate sufficiently, you might not know. Using a heart-rate monitor takes all the guesswork out of your workouts. It’s also a lot of fun, and it gives you immediate feedback on the effort you’re making. There are several different brands out there. Good heart-rate monitors can be found at most sporting good stores and start at around $50.

So, by implementing the aforementioned equipment into your weight loss plan, you don’t have to spend large amounts of money on gyms and can work out and lose weight easily from the comfort of your own home.

Maybe warm-ups need a good ad campaign. An ad for warming up would tell you that it burns calories, enhances your fat burning potential, prevents injuries, and more. By not warming up, you do miss out on many important advantages.

For your warm-up activities it is recommended to do 10 minutes of light aerobic type activity, consisting of several different moves, to prepare your body for circuit training. You will move at a leisurely pace, say 50% of your maximum heart rate. In that 10-minute span of time, you can expend up to 100 calories. When it comes to exerting energy, every little bit counts.

Throughout the full 10 minutes off your warm-up, your body will tap initially into sugar for energy. By the time you begin your workouts, you will get a less sugar to spare, so your body will dip into its fat stores for energy much earlier. The advantage, you guessed it, more fat is burned.

Think about what it’s like to start your car’s engine when it’s cold. It performs poorly, right? Well, muscles are the same way; they don’t work well until they reach the proper temperature. Warming up also increases blood flow to your tissues, so that more oxygen and more nutrients are channeled to your muscles for fuel. Increased blood flow also helps remove waste products from muscles, such as lactic acid, that makes you want to quit. Finally your warm-up speeds up neural responses. Nerve impulses travel faster, improving your motor skills, coordination, reaction time and agility. Warmed up muscles move faster and generate more force than cold muscles and they burn more energy which means your body is better primed to lose weight.

If your muscles are cold and stiff and you go full throttle into your exercise routine, you are inviting injury on a couple of fronts. Your muscles shouldn’t be used until they are warm and pliable. But in addition, when you warm-up properly, raising your muscle temperature your body begins to lubricate your joints for easier movement and your muscle tissue becomes more elastic. This is important for strength training exercises in which you will need to move weight or resistance through a full range of motion. All of these psychological responses to reduce the risk of over stretching or tearing muscle fibers and connective tissue.

Also, if you begin a workout without a warm-up, you may provoke an irregular heart rhythm. In studies of healthy people, abnormal heart rhythms were found in those who exercised intensely without warming up, but disappeared when an appropriate warm-up was included in their exercise routine.

Keep you back straight but not arched. If your back is curved while you add a weighted load to any exercise, you are placing  an unhealthy strain on your back

Activate your core (trunk muscles) when performing any movement. The more stable your core, the less risk of injury.

Isolate the muscle group you are working. Make sure you can feel those muscles – and only those muscles – during an  exercise. That means, for example, if you are doing a biceps curl, the only body part that should be moving is the portion  of your arm between your hand and elbow. Your back, shoulders and legs should not get in on act. That means no swaying,  rocking or any other ways of helping that weight up.

Choose a grip when using dumbbells that feels most comfortable and natural to you. Your grip should be firm but not too  tight. Squeezing the equipment wastes valuable energy that should be exerted in the exercise.

Always control the exercise – no rapid, jerky movements, which place harmful stress on the joint ligaments. Jerky motions  actually give the weight so much impetus that it practically glides to the midpoint of the repetition, using little muscular  force to get there. As a result, muscles encounter limited resistance. Without resistance, muscles aren’t properly  challenged and may not respond as well. If you can’t lift the weight without jerking it, then it is too heavy. Try a lighter  weight. Strict style and technique are more important than the amount of weight you lift.

At the midpoint or top of the exercise, pause for a second to tense your muscles. Then lower the weight slowly again,  accentuating the negative portion of the lift. Your muscles thus get maximum stimulation from the exercise.

Breathe naturally as you exercise. Never hold your breath. Holding your breath cuts oxygen supply to the blood and, coupled  with the exertion of the lift, could cause lightheadedness or fainting.

Here’s how to avoid workout injuries:

We can’t say it too many ties in too many ways: Always warm up before exercising and cool down after! Warm up exercises are designed to elevate your muscle temperature slightly and prepare your body for the workout. Muscles are like furnaces. They produce heat and this makes them more pliable, like putty, and in that state your body is adequately prepared for exercising. Afterwords, cooldown exercises focus on stretching for flexibility, joint health and muscle protection.

Never jerk or pull a weight abruptly as this can lead to torn ligaments and joint trauma.

Don’t be overenthusiastic and lift weights that are clearly too heavy for you.

Listen to your body signals that you may be doing too much or exercising incorrectly. If something doesn’t feel right, stop immediately. Signs that you are overtaxing your body include muscle and joint pain, swelling and fatigue. Additionally, women may even stop menstruating.

Warm up thoroughly before workout. This will increase your body temperature and make your body more resistant to muscle soreness.

Always perform cooldown stretches following your workout. They increase blood flow to and from the exercised muscles ensuring better delivery of nutrients and hormones for recovery and repair as well as flush out chemical waste products that lead to soreness.

Enjoy a nice hot bath after your workout. It’s all the better if you can apply water-jet massage from a Jacuzzi tub. Researches indicate that water-jet massage increases the release of proteins from muscle tissue into the blood and helps reduce muscle soreness after a taxing workout.

Also, don’t let muscle soreness sideline you and stick to you workout schedule. If you stop working out, you will only get sore again the next time you exercise. As long as you properly warm up, any sore body parts will be massaged by the repetitions of the exercising stimulating blood flow through the sore muscles for a healing effect