I know how tempting it can be to just start your favorite exercises as soon as you hit the gym, especially if you barely find any time to fit a good workout into your busy schedule. But just like the other physical activities, weight lifting also requires a proper warm-up. And no matter your body type, investing a few minutes from your workout to warm-up exercises is always recommended and has a lot of benefits, especially for Ectomorphs. The main reason for warming up is to raise the body’s temperature in order to facilitate movement. To put this into perspective, think of your body as a steel piece that needs to be forged into a sword. In order to be able to do any modifications and transform its shape, the steel piece needs to warmed up first. And that’s exactly how your body behaves.
Warming up your body before a workout for Ectomorphs has a lot of benefits such as increasing the body’s temperature and blood flow, and preventing injury. And the best warp-up exercises include stretching exercises, quick cardio exercises, using zero weights, and so on.
In this article, we’ll talk about the benefits of warming up before an intense workout, as well as some examples of warm-up exercises that you can do, and that work well with Ectomorphs.
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Benefits of Warm-Up Exercises For Ectomorphs
With a proper warm-up before each workout, you can increase your physical performance and prevent many injuries. So why not sacrifice just 5 minutes at the beginning of your training session to reap its many benefits. Here are some of its main benefits:
They Increase Muscle and Body Temperature
Allowing your muscles and body to warm up before an intense workout routine can be the main difference between having a good training session and a bad one. Just like a sword that’s ready to be forged, Warming up will give you the ability to do movements a lot easier which is essential for your muscles. The more your muscles are heated up, the more oxygen becomes available in them. And oxygen is one of the main components that allows muscles to contract and relax more easily. As a result, you’ll be able to perform harder and more challenging tasks at the cost of only 5 minutes.
They Prevent Injury
This is the most important benefit of warming up. As an Ectomorph, you want to prevent injury as much as possible. Imagine working so hard to grow your muscles only to then get injured and lose all your hard work in no time due to injury. Warming up will improve your muscles’ elasticity, pump more blood into them, and strengthen your connective tissues. As a result, you’re less likely to get injured and have a bad day at the gym. That’s why you need to take warming up seriously.
They Help You Prepare Mentally
Starting an intense workout routine as soon as you enter the gym can be really demoralizing and demotivating. This can result in underperforming during your training and it’s really easy to give up when you’re not mentally prepared for something. And that’s when warming up comes into play, you’ll slowly ease up into training and you’ll mentally prepare your body for an intense workout. This way, you’ll be able to perform at your maximum potential. In addition to that, those 5 minutes of warm-up will give you time to plan your workout routine and be efficient.
They Increase Flexibility
Stretching is one of the best last exercises that you can do on a warm-up. It helps in pumping more blood into your muscles and increasing your flexibility. This allows you to do exercises more efficiently and more easily while working out, and it ensures that all your muscle parts are working in harmony for optimum performance.
Best Warm-Up Exercises For Ectomorphs
Warm-up exercises can be split into 4 main categories: Stretching, foam-rolling, light cardio exercises, and zero weight movements. We’ll explain more in-depth about these different strategies.
Stretching
Stretching is one of the most common ways to warm up. It’s the exercise that stays at the pinnacle of physical therapy. And there are several advantages that you’ll benefit from when you use it as a warm-up. The first one is that it increases blood flow into your muscles which prepares them for intense activity. It’s also the proper way to loosen all your muscles and tendons which will increase your flexibility and range of motion while working out. And lastly, it will improve your performance overall. Just make sure to stretch all the muscles that you’ll be using during your workout.
Foam-Rolling
This is a fancy way of stretching. If you’re not sure what foam-rolling means, it’s a warm-up tool that’s used to release the tension in your muscles and connective tissues and therefore, increase their mobility. A foam roller is usually cylindric in shape and contains various textures and bumps to help your muscles prepare for an intense workout. And just like stretching, it increases the range of motion, circulation, reduces pain and muscle soreness, and helps you relax.
You can find plenty of foam rollers on Amazon, but here is our recommendation: 321 STRONG Foam Roller.
Light Cardio
Although cardio is usually not recommended for Ectomorphs, if you use it as a quick and light warm-up technique, then it can be really beneficial for your workout routine. Try going for something like jogging on a treadmill, jump roping, biking, or even rowing. Doing these cardio exercises for about 5 minutes before your workout will get your heart rate up and prepare your muscles for an intense workload, and you’ll feel much better which will maximize your performance.
Read more: Do Ectomorphs Lose Muscle Easily.
Zero-Weight Movements
Before jumping into any training routine, it may be best to use zero or light-weighted movements. To put this into perspective, If your workout of the day is mainly focused on squats, then the best thing that you can do to warm up is to squat using a zero-weight barbell. The same thing goes for a bench press, deadlift, or even shoulder press. This will prepare your body and mind for the workload of the exercise by imitating it using a light load.
Read more: Should Ectomorphs Lift Heavy.
Here is an example of a warm-up exercise that works well with Ectomorphs:
Conclusion:
A good warm-up routine can make a difference between an excellent and a bad workout. It prepares your body and mind, increases blood flow into your muscles, improves your range of motion, boosts your overall performance during your session, and prevents all sorts of injury. Just be sure to use a warm-up method that’s adapted to your workout routine of the day.
