Warm-Up for a Woman Before a Lower Body Workout

It is your scheduled leg day in your weekly exercise routine. Before starting, make sure to take the time to properly warm your body up. Warming up not only decreases your risk of injury, it also allows your mind and body to prepare for the workout as well. Knowing what to include in your warm-up as well as what to stay away from helps save you time and prevent injury.

  1. Warm it Up

    • Warming up before a workout offers several benefits, including an increase in blood flow, increased muscle temperature and increased heart rate and cardiac output. Warm-ups should last at least five minutes and include some sort of light cardiovascular activity such as low-intensity jogging. This is also a time to mentally prepare yourself for your upcoming workout.

    More Than One

    • When it comes to stretching, there are three types of stretches: static, dynamic and proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation, or PNF. Static stretches are held for a certain amount of time -- think toe touch. Dynamic stretches repetitively take a joint through its full range of motion; examples of such include ankle rolls or knee circles. Ballistic stretching, which is a type of dynamic stretching, involves jerky, short movements. Toe touches in which you bounce forward trying to reach your toes with your fingers is an example. PNF stretching involves muscular contractions during a movement, followed by a passive stretch. An example of PNF stretching would be bringing your hamstring straight up and having a partner apply a small amount of force to it.

    You're Dynamic

    • Perform a warm-up with dynamic stretching for your lower body. Dynamic stretches specifically for your legs include jumping jacks, high knees, butt kicks, ankle rolls, light calf stretches and hip circles. For ankle rolls, slowly roll your ankle in one direction and then switch to the opposite direction. For hip circles, bring your knee up to your chest and slowly bring your knee outward. Then bring it back to the starting position.

    It's All Static

    • Save static stretches for your cool down.

      There is some controversy surrounding static stretches and whether they actually hinder performance when used before physical activity. According to the American College of Sports Medicine, static stretches have been shown to reduce strength and power when used before resistance training. The ACSM currently recommends performing static stretches such as standing toe touches or the quadriceps stretch during your cool down instead of your warm-up. The ACSM also recommends holding static stretches for 10 to 30 seconds for four repetitions.