Over the last few days, I have discussed what you can do to improve your workout results and help prevent injuries. Today, Dan Go takes you through what you should do before your next workout.
Make sure to give it a go.
Rick Kaselj, MS
In this article, I will go through two things you need to do before you work out.
Number #1 is what we call Neuromuscular Activators.
Neuromuscular activators are just like an express shock to your body. They wake your nervous system and release this fluid into your joints, called synovial fluid. Neuromuscular Activators make your muscles pliable, detoxify your body, and prepare your body for the workout allowing it to lift more, move faster, and prevent injuries.
Number #2 is Dynamic Mobility.
Mobility exercises activate your muscles before the actual workouts, especially if you have been sitting down for a long time.
You need dynamic mobility exercises right before your workouts to give you a greater range of motion and deliver the right types of nutrients to your joints and muscles.
7 Must-Do Exercises Before Your Workout
Here is the perfect sequence that you should be doing right before your workouts.
1. Jumping Jack
We will start with Jumping Jacks.
All you are going to do is go up and down, and this is one of the perfect ways to wake up that nervous system and activate your shoulders and upper body. Do this for 20 seconds.
Right now, what you don’t realize when you are doing this is that you are releasing synovial fluid into your joints which helps them move easier.
2. Seal Jack
The next one that we will be doing is called the Seal Jacks.
This is amazing for upper and lower body exercise and what you are going to do is you are going to move your arms in and out. When you go in, you are stretching out your back, and when you go out, you are stretching out your chest and shoulders. Your legs are scissoring forward and back. Do this for 20 seconds.
Those are the two neuromuscular activators that you will do.
3. Across Free Hips
Now we will begin the Dynamic Mobility Exercises. We will do this in a circuit-type fashion with dynamic mobility and flow into each exercise.
The first one is going to be the Across Free Hips.
Dropping down with your knees and shoulder blades down, do this six times for each side to breathe in and out.
4. Lunge and Push Back
The next exercise is a Lunge and Push Back.
What we are going to do is we are going to go into a lunge and drop down on the other knee. This targets the hips and groin. Then we are going to lift our hips and push them back. When we push back, this stretches out the calf and hamstring. We will also do it on the other side for six repetitions, each position held for a second.
5. Stretch Chest and Shoulders
Now we will move to the ground from exercise #4 and stretch our chest and shoulders. What we are going to do is to we are going to dig our chest into the ground and rotate our shoulders. We will do this six times on each side with a one-second hold at the end of the position.
6. Push Up Plus
Now we are going to do our Push Up Plus. We will do this to activate your thoracic Spine.
In a push-up position, lift your upper body further and back to the start. Do this six times and hold each position for a second.
7. Tubing Chest and Shoulder Stretch
And now we move on to our Tubing Chest and Shoulder Stretch.
The last one, we will do it for your lats, shoulder, and chest. We will drop down against our lats, then turn out to stretch out that chest, and we will do five times for each side.
There you go.
Give that a go, and let me know how it goes. You can give me feedback in the Facebook comment below or as a general comment.
If you are looking for more workouts that will help you increase your workout results and prevent injuries, you can check out the Recovery Workouts Program.
Rick Kaselj, MS
