WARM UP

Often people turn up 10-15 minutes late for the class.  However during this time they’ve missed an essential section of the Lishi class that we do at each and every session.  So if you ask me if it is important to attend the warm ups before each class, my answer would be YES!

Why should I warm up?

A warm up’s get the body into a ready state before exercising. This is much like oiling a squeaky wheel. You give the different aspects of your physical body a chance to prepare to work together.

Your heart rate increases gradually. Your muscles warm up to prevent injury and your ligaments and tendons become more flexible, reducing the chance of tears.

A warm up also help to slowly increase the body’s temperature and heart rate and ensure that the demand made on the circulatory and metabolic systems is gradual as well.  In a safe and gradual way they allow blood to be diverted away from other parts of the body such as the digestive system to the muscles being exercised. This initial part of your exercise session also helps to improve neural function and co-ordination, protect major joints as it takes time to increase the supply of lubricating synovial fluid and to thicken the articular cartilages – the body’s shock absorbers.

In addition a warm up helps you prepare mentally for exercise.  This allows you to leave the stresses of the day at the door before you start the class so you can focus on the exercises in the room.

How should I warm up?
The warm up’s intensity should cause perspiration but not cause fatigue. The type of warm up needs to be appropriate for the activity planned. It also needs to be appropriate to the age range and fitness level of the participants, usually lasting for 5-15 minutes in duration.

In Lishi we warm up both the external and internal.
We warm up and open the major joints and muscles in the body.

We increase the body’s temperature by gently loading the body’s muscles and gently stretch the muscles tendons and ligaments to reduce muscle stiffness and warm up specific muscles that will be used during exercises.

We also include important deep breathing exercises (which I will blog about next week) to help to oxygenate the system and warm up the internal organs.

So in warming up thoroughly, we are preparing the body and the mind for the more energetic demands of a Lishi class to come.