The Warm - Up

5 Minute Dynamic Warm Up for Lower Body - Active Isolated Stretch

Warming up your muscles maximizes blood flow and prepares your joints for movement, increasing the benefits of your practice and reducing your likelihood of injury. Warming up before your practice also allows you to renew your awareness of your body and connect with your breath.

 A good rule of thumb is to warm up between 5 to 15 minutes, until your skin is warm to touch and you can feel your heart beat starting to elevate. The goal of your warm up is to slowly elevate your heart rate – slowly being the key word here – and connect with your body.

Exactly how long you need to warm up depends on the intensity of your practice and the state of your body at that moment.

If you’ve been sitting at a desk or in a classroom all day, your muscles are likely cold and stiff from the lack of movement whereas a person who spends their day on their feet or walks to yoga class may already have warmer and more pliable muscles at the start of their practice.

The more intense the practice, the more of a warm up you’ll need. If you go into your practice with cold muscles and jump right into Malasana (a yogi squat), you are risking injury. Spend time in gentler poses first, connecting with your breath and your body before transitioning into more difficult poses or practices.

 If you are taking a class online or in a studio, your teacher will most likely incorporate a warm up into the class, but listen to your own body to determine whether that is enough.

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Should you warm up before yoga?

Question

Summarize in your own words the benefits of warming up before stretching.