Q: How long should I warm up before I start my morning jog?
A: It's important to warm up the muscles & the joints before "stressing" them with exercise to avoid injury. Keep in mind whatever muscle groups you are going to be working should always be warmed up in the action they will be used. For example: for a person playing tennis should warm up their arms with arms circles as that is the action they will be doing in their exercise, (amongst many others). It's important not over stretch before exercise, because remember when we stretch, we are "asking the muscle to lengthen with stretching, then contract with the exercise. So we don't want to over lengthen it before we contract it. We save that part for after the exercise. we have something in our body, called the Golgi tendon", the stretch response & when the muscle is warm, it has elasticity in it & after muscle contracting (exercise) we want to restore the muscle back to its original resting length & we do that by stretching. I like to spend a good 10-15 minutes on stretching depending on the activity & intensity of the exercise. Stretching is super important for gaining muscle strength, range of motion & flexibility.
