I cringe a little now when I think back to when I first began lifting weights as a teenager in the basement of my parents’ house. For an adolescent boy, it was all about how much you could lift and getting stronger fast. The bench press of course was the ultimate lift and was how you measured yourself against your peers. The memory of the old SNL skit - “How Much You Bench?” still cracks me up, but that is pretty much how it is with a lot of young guys who workout.

The reason I cringe at the memory of those weightlifting sessions in the basement is because I did no warm ups or at least nothing that could be recognized as a proper warm up prior to going all out. Nope, I would load that bar up  to whatever my max bench press was at the time or maybe even add a few pounds to break the previous record. It was only after getting pinned under the bar and having to roll it down across my body to free myself that I would even consider dropping the poundage and that would only be by a small increment.

Warm ups were for geezers!

And that was the attitude I carried with me as I continued to lift weights through my twenties and into my early thirties. I think I finally relented after reading enough bodybuilding magazines that paid lip service to the importance of warm ups and after suffering through a few muscle pulls, I decided that warming up might not be such a bad idea after all.

By the time I reached 40, and after 2 orthopedic surgeries, I was a firm believer in the importance of proper warm ups.

I felt a little self-conscious warming up with 20 pound dumbbells, but I had little choice. As the body ages, even minor muscle pulls can take an agonizingly long time to completely heal. I knew that if I didn’t want to miss extended periods from the gym, which was an essential part of my life, then I had to take the proper precautions while I was in the gym.

These precautions consist of the following rules I now strictly abide by:

*Warm up the entire body with at least 5-10 minutes of cardio prior to lifting weights. This can be done on your cardio equipment of choice. Mine is the elliptical trainer.

*Perform at least 2 warm up sets prior to the working sets of any weight training exercise. These warm up sets should be higher reps in the 10-15 range and even 20 if it suits the exercise. Perform these warm up sets slowly using strict form and a full range of motion. The goal is to loosen the muscles as well as the ligaments and tendons of the joints involved. A full range of motion during warm ups is important in order to stretch out the muscles. If you feel that you need more than 2 warm up sets, then do more until you’re completely confident you’re ready to jump in on the heavier sets.

*Listen to your body carefully prior to each exercise. Just because you were able to grunt out 6 reps last time using a certain weight doesn’t mean you should use the same weight this time. If your mind and body isn’t feeling up to it, then back off a bit and try to get things back up next time. There’s no point in risking an injury just to stoke your ego. Men seem to have more of a problem with this than women.

*Finish off your workouts - both cardio and weight training, with a few minutes of full body stretches. Your muscles are thoroughly warmed up at this point and this is the perfect opportunity to loosen up your muscles and joints with a good stretch.

Just never stretch a cold muscle.

Instead, do your pre-workout stretches after you’re done with your cardio warm up.

*Be sure to warm up before any other physical activities outside of the gym. Whether it be 18 holes of golf, a tennis match, a pickup basketball game, or soccer practice with your kids, do some kind of warm up. Even if it’s just some light jogging and followed by a few stretches to prepare your body for the activity. It’s also not a bad idea to limber your body up a bit if you will be doing extended work around the house and yard. It might just save you from some nagging aches and pains afterwards.

Your body can take on a great deal of physical stress and may even surprise you when called upon during a emergency. Just be sure to treat your body with the proper respect that it deserves and listen to what it’s telling you at all times. The sad fact is that a lot of people pay more attention to the care and maintenance of their cars than they do to their own bodies.