Dance aerobics warm-up. Exercises for aerobics classes. Why people don't warm up before a workout

Aerobics is one of the areas of fitness, which consists in performing exercises to music. Distinguish different kinds aerobics and all of them, we will tell you in this article.

Aerobics: this familiar and familiar form from childhood physical activity still occupies a leading position in popularity among people who follow their figure. Aerobics are rhythmic exercises that are performed to music and combine breathing exercises, muscle development and plastic development. Aerobics is designed to saturate tissues and organs with oxygen and strengthen the cardiovascular system. Due to the intensity of the loads and the enrichment of the body with oxygen, there is a rapid burning of fats, so aerobics is one of the most effective weight loss fighters.
Most often, bodybuilding is practiced in gym. Previously, the question was considered how to choose an aerobics or fitness bodybuilding room.

Types of aerobics:

  • Classical (dance) aerobics is based on dance movements. Actively strengthens muscles, especially the muscles of the lower body, arms and legs, well reduces excess weight, strengthens the heart and blood vessels, makes the body more plastic, improves posture.
  • Step aerobics is carried out using a special platform - step. This type of aerobics is also designed to strengthen the cardiovascular and respiratory system, perfectly tightens the muscles of the legs, hips and buttocks, makes the relief of the body more beautiful.
  • Power aerobics is aerobics with the use of various machines that work different muscle groups. Great for those who it is necessary to tighten flabby muscles, make them embossed and drive off excess fat. Usually, as a result of training, muscle weight increases, so the total body weight may not decrease, but the body will still become lean, because muscle volume increases and fat is burned.
  • Slide aerobics is a kind of power aerobics, performed on a smooth track in special shoes - satin shoes. The sliding movements of those involved resemble the movements of skiers or skaters.: in fact, the slide was invented as a way to train skaters in summer period. Slide aerobics is great for women who want to get rid of fat deposits in the thighs, legs and buttocks. The joints of the legs are well strengthened.
  • Aqua aerobics is a unique fitness program, allowing you to work out almost all muscle groups at the same time, strengthen joints and ligaments. As the name implies, water aerobics classes are held in the water, in the pool. This type of fitness has no contraindications for weight, height, gender, or level. physical training.
  • Dance aerobics is very close to classical aerobics, but here the bias is made precisely on dance movements to a wide variety of music. Dance aerobics is designed not only to strengthen the musculoskeletal system and tighten muscles, the energy boost that you receive during classes is of great importance. Posture is corrected, mood improves, which, together with weight loss, makes dance aerobics one of the most enjoyable and effective fitness programs.
  • Strip dance and strip plastic: subspecies of dance aerobics. Aimed at the development of body flexibility and plasticity, the study of the basics of striptease. When doing strip plastics, the muscles of the legs and hips are perfectly worked out, in particular, the “breeches” are removed, thanks to the abundance of movements with deep squats. And, besides the benefits, strip dancing is just very beautiful, your achievements in this form of fitness will certainly be highly appreciated by your loved one.

Basic aerobic exercises

Take an emphasis lying down, legs straight. Hands are slightly wider than shoulders, the back should be straight. On an inhale, pull forward right hand and at the same time lift up left leg. Exhale as you return to starting position. Perform 2-3 sets of 8-12 reps for each side.

Stand with your feet slightly wider than shoulder-width apart, toes turned 45 degrees. Bend your knees and lower yourself into a semi-squat. Arms bent at the elbows, elbows over the knees (position A). Take a step to the side with your left foot, while the knees remain bent (position B). Now take a step in the same direction with your right foot.

Hands on the waist, feet shoulder width apart - this is the starting position. Bend your knees and lower yourself into a semi-squat. As you straighten out of the semi-squat position, simultaneously lift your right leg to the side as high as you can. Return to starting position.

Lie face down on a fitness ball, hands behind your head, feet resting on the floor.
Tighten your buttocks and lift your torso up so that your body forms a straight line. Stay in this position for a few seconds. Slowly return to the starting position. It is the muscles of the buttocks that help your body straighten up.
10-12 repetitions.

This is one of the most common exercises that can be seen in fitness centers. Take the starting position: lie on the floor, cross your arms behind your head, bring your legs together, but place between them soccer ball. Then you need to raise your legs up and down, thereby you will involve large gluteal muscles, as well as inner surface hips.

  • Every lesson starts with a warm-up. It is better not to be late for class, because the better you warm up, the more effective class will take place and the less likely to be injured and sprained.
  • When you just start exercising and don’t get in time in any way, you don’t have to get upset - any normal aerobics coach will always meet you halfway, stay after class to once again show the most difficult exercises.
  • Regularity. Since you seriously decided to put the figure in order, remember: regularity is a must. The option “I go for a week - I’m lazy for two weeks” will not give any effect. To achieve the result, you need to train at least 3 times a week for several months. After that, you can go to the system of supportive classes (2 times a week for 30-40 minutes).
  • Gradual increase in load. If you haven’t done fitness before, it’s better to start training with short sessions of 10-15 minutes each.t, gradually increasing the duration to 30-40 minutes a day. For starters - aerobic exercises, after - simulators.
  • No masochism! Do not torture yourself with excessive loads, especially in the first months of classes.. Fatigue, of course, should be present, but if you practice almost until you lose consciousness, and then do not find the strength to get home, such training will do more harm than good.
  • Make a schedule of classes for a month and a plan for each week. This will help organize your life and allocate the time needed to visit the fitness center. Knowing in advance that you have training scheduled for tonight, you will plan your time more correctly. And skip classes less often.

Videos exercises

Aerobics - Stage one - Warm up

dance aerobics

Fitball exercises

Topics covered in earlier articles:

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Body exercises

  • Exercises for the buttocks or shake the ass
  • Waist exercises
  • Turnikmen exercises
  • Stretching exercises

Reading time: 23 minutes

The warm-up before training is a set of exercises to prepare the body for physical activity, which will help you avoid injury and get the most out of your workout. The main purpose of the warm-up is to gradually increase body temperature and warm up muscles that are in a state of inactivity.

We offer you a selection of warm-up exercises and a ready-made sequential plan for their implementation. These exercises are equally suitable for warming up at home and in the gym.

Why is it necessary to warm up before a workout?

Warming up before exercise is essential part fitness classes. A good warm-up will gradually increase your heart rate, increase circulation to your muscles, tendons, and ligaments, and prepare you mentally for your workout. Regardless of whether you are going to do strength or cardio exercises, warming up before training is a must.

Benefits of stretching before exercise:

  1. You warm up the muscles, ligaments and tendons, which improves their elasticity and reduces the risk of injury and sprains.
  2. Warm muscles contract and relax better during exercise, which means your strength capabilities during exercise will be higher.
  3. Warm-up exercises optimize performance of cardio-vascular system: This will help reduce the strain on the heart during exercise.
  4. Warming up before a workout improves blood circulation, which will saturate your muscles with oxygen and nutrients. This will help increase your stamina while exercising.
  5. During the warm-up, your body increases the production of hormones responsible for energy production.
  6. Training is a kind of stress for the body, so a quality warm-up will prepare you for stress from a mental point of view, improve coordination and attention.
  7. During the lungs warm-up exercises Adrenaline is released into the bloodstream, making your body better able to cope with physical stress.
  8. Warming up speeds up metabolic processes.

A good warm-up before training will help you not only avoid injuries and problems with the cardiovascular system, but also more effectively conduct the session. If you want to skip warm-ups and save time and focus more on heavy lifting for faster results, then this is the wrong way to go. After a warm-up, your body will work better, you will be more energetic and stamina, which will give you much more best result in perspective.

A dynamic warm-up must be carried out before any workout, regardless of the type of load: strength training with weights, running, cycling, kickboxing, plyometrics, twine stretching, and any other sports direction. A warm-up before training is needed both when exercising in the gym and at home (on the street).

Why don't people warm up before a workout?

Many people do not warm up before a workout, considering it a waste of time. You probably heard more than once from friends or acquaintances: “I regularly do strength and cardio workouts in the gym and never warm up and cool down. I didn't feel any harm.". Never rely on someone else's dubious experience!

Firstly, each person has his own individual level of strength, no one knows the reserves of his body. It may not fail for a month, two, six months or even a year, gradually wearing out, but how long this can last is unknown. Secondly, in the conditions of excessive and very often conflicting information on fitness, many of us already make a lot of mistakes that can affect our health. Therefore, try to follow at least the canonical recommendations - doing a warm-up before each workout is just one of them.

It is important to note that even personal trainers and group coaches may not spend a minimum amount of warm-up time. But you yourself are responsible for your health, so do not be too lazy to come 10 minutes before training and do your own warm-up. Even if until today you have avoided injuries, then remember that a cold tendon tear or other unpleasant injury can happen at any time.

The situation is similar with home workouts, of which a large number are now being produced. Typically, programs are designed for 20-30 minutes, which is very important for many people in conditions of high employment. And of course, in such short programs in the best case, 2-3 minutes will be given to the warm-up, and in the worst case, there will be no warm-up at all.

What is the danger of not warming up?

Studies show that only 5% of people do a good warm-up before training, and this is a very sad statistic. Many practitioners believe that this is a waste of time, which is already limited in fitness classes. Let's remember once again how dangerous it can be to not warm up before training, in addition to reducing the effectiveness of the session?

  • The most common problem that occurs when there is no warm-up before training is sprain. A very unpleasant and painful syndrome, because of which you have to take a break from training.
  • An even more annoying problem is joint injury. If you exercise on a cold joint, then there is a high risk of damaging it. The danger of a joint injury lies not only in the duration of recovery, but also in the fact that after an injury, it will constantly remind of itself. Due to incorrect loads, especially often suffer knee, ankle, shoulder and hip joints.
  • No quality workout due to high load the heart may experience dizziness or even fainting.
  • Sudden abrupt exercise without a preparatory warm-up part can cause a sharp jump in pressure which is equally dangerous for people with hypertension and hypotension.

Warm-up structure before training

It is advisable to do a warm-up before training. minimum 7-10 minutes. It is better to start warming up with light cardio exercises to warm up the body. Then you should execute dynamic exercises for warming up joints and for stretching muscles. The warm-up ends again with cardio exercises with already b about more intensity. At the end of the warm-up, we restore breathing by taking a deep breath and exhaling.

The structure of the warm-up before training for 7-10 minutes:

  • Light cardio warm-up: 1-2 minutes
  • Joint gymnastics: 1-2 minutes
  • Dynamic Muscle Stretch: 2-3 minutes
  • Cardio warm up: 2-3 minutes
  • Recovery breathing: 0.5-1 minute

Cardio warming up will increase body temperature, increase blood circulation, and prepare your muscles for further stretching. Joint gymnastics activates the work of joints, tendons and ligaments, improves their mobility and helps to work out the periarticular muscles. Dynamic stretch will make your muscles more elastic, which will help them work more efficiently throughout the workout.

Thanks to such a warm-up, you will make your heart work faster, speed up blood circulation, gently wake up all the muscles of the body. After a proper warm-up, a pleasant warmth spreads through the body, you feel cheerful and full of energy. If you have planned stretching or stretching for twine as a workout, then the final cardio warm-up can be increased to 5-7 minutes.

Do not confuse pre-workout warm-up with post-workout stretching. In the warm-up, your goal is to warm up the muscles and joints, increase blood circulation, and prepare the body for stress. The warm-up should not be slow and static, you should warm up well. After training, on the contrary, you should restore breathing, lower your heart rate and perform static stretching exercises.

Warm-up exercises

The importance of the warm-up is difficult to overestimate, it is a fundamental part of the workout. First, a good warm-up before exercise reduces the risk of injury. Secondly, warm muscles work more efficiently. The warm-up should include a complete and thoughtful set of exercises that will help prepare your body for training in a quality manner.

Stage 1: Light cardio warm up

The warm-up should always begin with light cardio exercises to warm up the body and not pull the muscle during dynamic stretching. Cardio warm-up lasts 1-2 minutes and may include easy running or brisk walking on the spot. During the frame warm-up, your heart rate should rise and your body warm up. Each exercise for cardio warm-up is performed 30-45 seconds .

1. Walking with knees up

2. Walking with arms and legs apart

Stage 2: Joint gymnastics

Joint gymnastics, by the way, is also useful as a regular exercise. morning exercises. We repeat each exercise 10 times, as needed on the right and left sides. Do not forget to perform some rotational exercises both clockwise and counterclockwise.

1. Rotation of the head with a crescent (do not throw the head back)

7. Leg rotation

Stage 3: Dynamic Muscle Stretching

After articular gymnastics, there is a stage for dynamic stretching of different muscle groups. Exercises are performed according to 15-20 seconds .

1. Breeding arms for the muscles of the chest and back

2. Shoulder stretch

4. Side bends to warm up the sides

5. Tilts to the legs to warm up the body

6. Back and leg arch squats

7. Squat twists for the back and shoulders

8. Side lunges to warm up the legs

9. Lunges to warm up the legs

10. Rotate in a lunge to warm up the core, legs, arms and shoulders

Stage 4: Cardio warm-up

On the final stage warm-up, we again return to cardio exercises to warm up even more and raise the body temperature. The speed and intensity of the exercise can be increased, the duration of the final cardio warm-up is 2-3 minutes. Each exercise is performed 40-60 seconds, see the execution speed according to your capabilities.

3. Jumping with the breeding of arms and legs

4. Running with knees up

Stage 5: Restoring breathing

Be sure to remember to restore your breathing after doing cardio exercises by taking a deep breath in and out 0.5-1 minute. Choose one of these exercises:

1. Restoring breathing with squats

2. Breath recovery with tilt

Thank you youtube channels for the gifs: FitnessType, Nicole Perry, PsycheTruth, Dayanna Marz, Deporlovers, Tuiwok Talento.

Stage 6: Special warm-up

If you are doing strength training with heavy weights, then also be sure to pay attention to special warm-up. It is aimed at the maximum warming up of those muscles that will be actively involved in the training. As part of a special warm-up, you should perform exercises from the main complex, but without weights or with a small weight (20-30% of the maximum).

A special warm-up should be performed immediately before the exercise or before training for a whole muscle group. Attention, a special warm-up does not replace the general warm-up before training! This is only one of the stages of the lesson, but also very important.

Here is an example of a special warm-up. Let's say you have 80kg barbell squats scheduled. So, before this exercise, you should do a kneading set of 10-15 reps with an empty bar or with a bar weight of 20-30% of maximum weight. Once again, we emphasize that a special warm-up is performed after the general, and not in place of it.

How to warm up before a run or cardio workout?

How to properly warm up before a run or other cardio workout? In this case, follow an absolutely similar pattern: a small cardio warm-up for 2 minutes (running in place, light jumping rope) and then joint gymnastics + stretching. And only after that go directly to cardio training, gradually increasing the intensity.

Many people think that it is not necessary to warm up before a cardio workout. However, this is not true. Muscles, joints, heart get a serious load during running and jumping, so it is very dangerous to exercise without a warm-up. Just walking and gradually increasing the intensity without doing warm-up exercises for the joints and muscles is not enough! Be sure to follow articular gymnastics and stretching before cardio.

Features of the warm-up before training:

  1. We perform a warm-up from top to bottom (neck, shoulders, arms, chest, back, core, legs). But this is rather a traditional principle of warm-up exercises, the order of exercises does not play a fundamental role.
  2. The warm-up should take place at a dynamic, but gentle pace. Your goal is to gently warm up and prepare for more intense exercise. You should feel warm throughout your body from the warm-up, but don't overdo it.
  3. Warm-up should start with slow pace and a small amplitude of movements, gradually increasing the pace and amplitude.
  4. Avoid long static positions, the warm-up before training should include dynamic exercises. Do not confuse it with stretching after a workout, during which it is supposed to freeze in one position for 30-60 seconds to stretch the muscles.
  5. During the warm-up before training at home or in the gym, avoid sudden movements, try to perform the exercises smoothly. Avoid pain or discomfort in the joints (crunching in the joints maybe, it's not scary).
  6. If you are exercising in a cool room (or outdoors), then dress warmly for a faster warm-up or increase the warm-up to 15-20 minutes.
  7. If you know that today you will train some part of the body especially intensively, then pay special attention to it during the warm-up. For example, on your lower body workout day, thoroughly stretch your hips and knees, and stretch your leg and glute muscles.
  8. If you work out in the gym, then you can use as a cardio warm-up treadmill or . Always start at a slow pace, the pulse should rise gradually.

Warm up video before workout

If you need ready-made warm-up options before training, then we offer you 6 short videos to help you warm up and get ready for intense workouts. The programs last 5-10 minutes and are suitable for both men and women.

Warm-up video in Russian

1. Universal warm-up before training for 7 minutes

2. Warm up before training for 7 minutes

3. Warm up before training for 8 minutes

Warm-up video in English

1. 5 Minute Total Body Warm Up Workout

2. 5 minute Quick Warm Up Cardio Workout

3. 10 Minute Pre-workout Warm Up

Wherever you do it: at home, on the street or in the gym, be sure to warm up before training, and then physical activity will bring you pleasure, benefit and results.

Surely you have often come across such names as aerobic training, cardio loads, exercises for the development of aerobic endurance. What do they mean?

What is aerobic training for, and what exercises do they include? What are the health benefits of cardio? And how to perform them correctly in order to achieve results and not harm your body?

Let's try to find answers to all these questions and take a closer look at what experts say about cardio training and aerobic exercise.


What is aerobic exercise?

What are aerobic exercises or, as they are also called, cardio loads?

In literal translation, "aerobic" means "with oxygen". That is, these are loads that provide a large saturation of all muscles with oxygen. Aerobic training refers to the performance of exercises of low and medium intensity without the use of additional weights.


The health benefits of aerobic exercise

Such loads help strengthen the cardiovascular system, make muscles more elastic, strengthen the heart, and also improve lung function.

But the most great benefit from aerobic exercise is to burn subcutaneous fat deposits.


Aerobic workout exercises

Aerobic exercises include any type of motor load without weights - walking, running, jumping rope, cycling, swimming, outdoor games (football, volleyball, tennis, badminton, etc.), performing movements to rhythmic music and even dancing.

Aerobic activities include step aerobics and recently gaining training in the form of walking up stairs. When climbing 100 steps, an average of about 40 kcal is burned for women and 45 kcal for men.

In the fitness center, you can take the opportunity to strengthen your body by exercising on an exercise bike, treadmill, stepper or special cardio machines.

Aerobic exercises for burning fat differ in their effect on different muscle groups and joints.

So, for example, if you are very overweight, then you should carefully choose such a type of training as running. During running, significant shock loads fall on the knee joints. It also has a strong effect on the ankle joints.


To avoid injury and prevent cartilage destruction as a result of shock loads, with a large excess, it is recommended to choose exercises on an exercise bike, elliptical trainer or stepper.

Highly good choice to start training with a large overweight there will be swimming. When swimming, all muscle groups are active, while there is no skeletal load, which manifests itself when exercising on land and leads to joint injuries.

In general, for beginners, any cyclic exercises with a small load on the joints will be a good choice - swimming, walking, exercising on an elliptical trainer.

The most popular types of aerobic exercise are described in this video:


How to choose the intensity of the loads?

In order for the training to be as effective as possible, you need to carefully monitor your heart rate, which should not exceed 85% of the maximum heart rate for your age.

There are several different formulas for calculating heart rate during aerobic training. The simplest of them is the difference between the number 220 and the number that represents your age.

For example, you are 45 years old. To determine the optimal heart rate for cardio training, subtract 45 from 220:

220 - 45 = 175 beats per minute.

The following formula is considered more accurate:
205.8 - (0.685 * age)

That is, for 45 years, the heart rate determined by this formula will be:

205,8 – (0,685*45) = 174,975

As you can see, there is practically no difference. Therefore, it is quite acceptable to use a simplified calculation.


Duration of cardio training

Despite the fact that aerobic exercises seem easy enough, you should start training with short sessions. Optimal time training at the first stage is 15-20 minutes.

Do the exercises, controlling your pulse and listening to your inner sensations. If you feel that you are beginning to suffocate, that you do not have enough air, you should interrupt the exercise and breathe properly.

Increase the intensity and duration of training should be gradual. Starting from 15-20 minutes, the time of classes is gradually increased to 25-30, and then to 40-45 minutes. It is enough to increase the duration by 5 minutes a week. That is, the 1st week is 20 minutes, the 2nd week is 25 minutes, the 3rd week is 30 minutes, and so on.

Over time, with a good level of preparation, the duration can be increased to 50-60 minutes.

You should practice at least 3-5 times a week. At first, it will be enough 3 times with a break of no more than 2 days, gradually increasing to 5 times a week.


Aerobic exercise at home

If you do not have the opportunity to regularly run in the stadium or go to the gym, you can work out at home on your own.

These can be weight loss exercises performed to rhythmic music:

No less useful training on the simulators.

When choosing a home exercise machine, you should first of all pay attention to an exercise bike, treadmill or elliptical trainer.

The treadmill allows you to walk and run without leaving your home. But at the same time, it should be understood that a fairly large area will be required for the treadmill. As a rule, a separate room or part of a large room is assigned to install a treadmill in the house.

If you do not have an excess of available space, then you should look at an elliptical or exercise bike.

The elliptical trainer takes up less space and allows you to create a load not only on the muscles of the legs, but also on the muscles of the arms and muscles shoulder girdle allowing you to burn calories more efficiently.

If there is no extra space in the apartment at all, you can buy a stepper. It practically does not take up free space, is able to create good load on the muscles of the legs and is easily removed under the bed.

You can see an overview of different models of exercise equipment for the home in the video below:


What is the best time to practice?

It was at this time, when noon had already passed, and the evening was still far away, that the muscles and ligaments were already sufficiently warmed up, but not yet tired and could easily endure the workout. This significantly reduces the risk of injury.

But many experts recommend using the morning hours and the first half of the day for aerobic training whenever possible. As they see it, jogging, cycling and race walking will help to raise the overall tone and get a boost of energy for the whole day.

So the choice here is yours.

Do not neglect such stages of training as a warm-up and a hitch. If you start training without warming up the muscles, you can get a rather unpleasant injury - sprain or even rupture of the ligaments.

In addition, a sharp increase in the load on the heart can also lead to sad consequences.

Therefore, do not be lazy to allocate 5-10 minutes to prepare for the lesson.

Perform stretching exercises, squats, tilts, arm swings, and only after that proceed to training.

The same applies to the end of classes - you should not stop abruptly and go to the locker room. Before you finish your workout, switch from running to walking, swing your arms, take a series of deep breaths in and out to calm your pulse and relax your muscles after the workout.


After aerobic exercise

After finishing a workout, you should not immediately run to the refrigerator to refresh yourself.

Within 40-50 minutes after training, the process of burning calories is still ongoing, which allows, even after completing the exercises, to burn calories stored in subcutaneous deposits for some time.

At this time, it is advisable to drink 0.5 liters of clean drinking water without gas or herbal tea to replenish the fluid lost during training. This will help prevent dehydration.

For muscle recovery after exercise, it is recommended to eat some whole grain bread with cheese, yogurt with fruit, or scrambled eggs with vegetables.

***
As you can see, aerobic training can be very effective for weight loss and endurance training.

In the following publications, we will talk in more detail about the choice of various types of exercise machines for practicing at home, and also learn how to exercise them correctly.

Usually, the warm-up before training suffers from a mismatch with the main training session. Almost all women warm up on something like a treadmill or elliptical trainer for 5-20 minutes, and they completely forget that the purpose of the warm-up is not only to raise the pulse, but also to prepare the muscles, joints, and ligaments for work. Cardio warm-up does not solve the last three tasks at all. Many people manage to skip both the warm-up itself and the warm-up sets of exercises, and in aerobics, complete chaos reigns at all - someone stretches their muscles before class, someone, on the contrary, starts with strength exercises. own weight. How is it right?

The content of the article:

Work out what will work

Let's say if you have a chest and triceps workout, it probably doesn't make sense to do 100 warm-up squats with your own body weight, right?

Knead it the way it will work

Before strength exercises, 2 warm-ups should be carried out - articular and functional. Articular allows you to increase mobility, and functional - to prepare the muscles that you will train for work. The best warm-up completely imitates those exercises that will be performed in the main training session, but with light weight or none at all. Sometimes, seriously strength training“activation” is also used - the inclusion in the work of the muscles of the cortex before heavy basic exercises, but this is in general, not about "workouts for weight loss" as they usually are.

FROM cyclic species sports in general, everything is very simple. Run? After the joint warm-up, do a light run to warm up and stretch. Bike? Likewise.

Do not arrange a separate training session from the warm-up

The most favorite "trick" of all women who find themselves in the gym is 20 minutes to "hang" on treadmill or elliptical trainer before strength training. This is fundamentally wrong, especially for a beginner. Do you want to do cardio? Do it, but only after the power one, and not before it. This “half-workout-half-workout” is not a good compromise, but good way tire the large muscles of the legs and load nervous system before you start exercising. The result is usually not so much fat burning as a violation of coordination of movements. That is why many go to the gym for years, and still do not understand how to perform strength exercises and why they don't work. Yes, simply because what lovers do to turn a warm-up into cardio is not strength exercises, but something feasible that, in terms of efficiency, tends to be done in the exercise therapy group. Already sufficiently trained people who do not set the goal of increasing strength as a priority can afford cardio at the beginning.

Do not include jumping in your warm-up

The principle is true for what is called fitness for weight loss. Runners, athletes and representatives game types sports, on the contrary, actively include jumping in their activities.

Leave Your Abs Alone

After reading about the activation of the core before the strength, many beginners begin, sorry, download press for 100 repetitions with a straight twist or something similar. Core activation is predominantly static exercises such as plank, T-pose, and explosive exercises that do not lead to significant muscle fatigue, such as "lumberjack". Those who like to shake the press instead of warming up most often suffer from a violation of posture in all power movements, and the complete inability to “unstick” the stomach from the hips in the squat. They find it difficult to pull deadlifts, they find it difficult to bench press simply because the "loaded" press contributes to the incorrect position of the shoulder blades and back on the bench. Even the standard hip adductions suffer from preliminary work on the press. Therefore, it is better to leave it alone until the end of the workout, and leave the activation to those who are engaged, rather than improving physical education, a real sport.

Cardio part

Purpose: to smoothly increase the heart rate

Means: any cardio simulator, low-intensity exercises, you need to do no more than 5-7 minutes, until light sweating, increase your heart rate to 50% of your maximum heart rate, no more.

Joint warm-up

Circular rotations in all joints, 5-9 times in each direction, very smoothly without any jerks along the axis of rotation and not for speed.

Functional part

Take all the exercises that you will perform and do them one after the other, without weights or with minimal weight, for 12-15 repetitions at a slow pace. Watch the amplitude, try to gradually increase it, but do not do it in full amplitude immediately, from the first repetition. Do a couple of such circles, rest.

Special part

Before everyone strength exercise a warm-up approach with a light weight is performed.

Is a preliminary stretching in power? If you are into recreational fitness (i.e. not powerlifting or weightlifting) pre-stretching is not necessary. Keep an eye on the amplitude in the warm-up sets, and perform a regular, static stretch at the end of the workout. In case of power types sports are pulled by antagonists of working muscles, easily, no more than 20 seconds, and not deep. Stretching is carried out after a functional warm-up, and before the special.

Warm up before running

You've probably seen how runners stretch before a race. But starting with this stretch itself is not entirely correct. Training begins with rotation in all joints, 5-8 times in each direction, followed by a special warm-up - jogging. To start, run at a slow pace for 5-8 minutes to get your heart rate up.

Then do gentle dynamic stretching exercises:

  • squats with full amplitude and wide setting of the feet;
  • lunges from side to side with good amplitude;
  • transition from the dog with the muzzle down to the bar and back;
  • for sprints - 1-3 series of jumps from squats and lunges, for distance running - 1 minute of running with high knees.

After that, you can start running the distance.

Classic stretching in statics is performed at the end of the workout. Initially, they lead to destabilization of the joints and ligaments, and can cause injury if be very zealous.

Classes on non-impact simulators such as rowing, stepper or elliptical require only a preliminary articular warm-up, and a smooth increase in heart rate to working indicators for you. Actually, special warm-up there will be the same movement with no load or resistance, or with minimal resistance and at a low pace. It is especially necessary to monitor how the knee and hip joints in the warm-up - exclude back bending of the knees, abduction of the pelvis with each step and other traumatic changes in the amplitude of movement.

Aerobic group classes tend to come with a “built-in” warm-up – those five minutes that many people spend pouring water in a cooler are extremely important. Even if you don't enjoy marching in place, give enough attention to it, simply because it is these simple steps that prepare the body for work. In addition, a good aerobic group class includes the obligatory pre-stretch, that is, pre-stretching in a static-dynamic (mixed - first “springs” gently, and then a few seconds of static stretching) mode.

In general, the same rules apply to warm-ups before homework. And no warm-up can be considered universal, or suitable for everyone. Actually, the most important thing is to avoid the two extremes - avoiding the warm-up and turning it into an independent workout, that's all.

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Especially for - fitness trainer Elena Selivanova.

Step aerobics is a type of aerobics, the duration of which is about fifty minutes. Translated from English "step" means "step". In the process of training, the shoulders should be lowered down, the head raised up, and the buttocks and back should be in great tension. Step aerobics is based on beautiful and correct steps. At first glance, it may seem that such training is very simple. Indeed, everyone can do this type of aerobics, it does not require special physical training. However, the result of training will definitely surprise you, reward you with an ideal and slender figure for your efforts! So, in this article we will take a closer look at what step aerobics is, warming up with step aerobics and talk about other important aspects of such a workout.

The founder of this type of aerobics is Gina Miller. After a knee injury, she began to invent own exercises, exercising on the ordinary steps of the porch of his house. Today, there are special step platforms for doing step aerobics. They can be adjusted as you wish. The higher the level of the step platform, the more intense and more effective the training. The beauty of step aerobics is that it has a complex effect on the whole body. It becomes fit and beautiful. It is especially good for those girls who dream of getting a wasp waist.

Also, the advantage of step aerobics is that you do not have to purchase expensive equipment. All you have to spend money on is the purchase of a step platform. In addition, with all your desire, you will not pump up muscles in unnecessary places. You also have the opportunity to develop excellent coordination of movements. Step aerobics will have a beneficial effect not only on appearance your body, but also significantly improve your health. Training improves blood pressure, strengthening the cardiovascular and respiratory systems.


There is a kind of warm-up step aerobics, which instead of fifty minutes will take only ten minutes of your time. The basis of such training are the usual side steps. You don't even have to buy a step platform. You can use any elevation.


Warm up your muscles before you start exercising. For this purpose, exercises known to everyone are suitable, such as: tilting the head, rotating it, tilting the body in all directions (left, right, back, forward). After that, make sweeping movements with your hands. Stretch your legs well. Then swing your legs, do not ignore squats, jump, stretch.


Step aerobics classes usually proceed to dynamic, incendiary, rhythmic music that will set the necessary pace and give you good mood and provide energy for the whole day. You can find special video lessons on step aerobics on the Internet or visit a fitness club once in order to learn the basics from an instructor.


exhausting and long workouts able to shape any body. You need patience, will, diligence and regularity of classes. Of course, playing sports is only one factor that will help you achieve the desired result. In addition to physical activity, you need to adjust your diet. healthy eating and sports - here it is, the formula for a slim figure!