How Do You Know When You're Warmed Up?

You'll actu­ally feel warm, and your muscles will feel relaxed. And, a good warm-up session will increase your motivation. Walking is a great warm-up, but you proba­bly won't have room enough in your school to do it. I've found that a great way to warm up is by jumping lightly up and down in one place, twisting the lower half of my body while keeping my arms bent as though I was running. Even jumping jacks are a great way to warm up.

Once students are warmed up, they can begin stretching. Done slowly and deliberately, stretching promotes flexibility. Before a workout, it reduces your chances of being injured; after a workout, if 11 relax your muscles and reduce muscle soreness. A good instructor always ends a class with stretch­ing, especially after a particularly tough session. That's because he knows that after vigorous exercise, students' muscles will be slightly injured. If left alone, the muscles will gradually shorten and tighten with time, limiting flexibility and increasing the chances of injuring the muscles. Stretching after a workout enables students to maintain their flexibility. Instructors also understand that not only is stretching good for students, it's good for business. After all, students with pulled muscles may not work out, and with no students there's no school.

Stretching properly to avoid pulled muscles requires a little time and patience. You should also remember to:

- Hold still while stretching (in other words, don't bounce).
- Hold each stretch for at least fifteen seconds, and pre­ferably for thirty seconds.
- Stop as soon as you feel pain. At that point your muscle

A torn muscle is just that—a muscle whose fibers have been torn apart. Ideally, you want your muscles to be able to contract and stretch without tearing. Muscles that aren't stretched and warmed up will stay contracted most of the time. If they are then forcibly stretched beyond their limit, they will tear. In addition to warming up and stretching, new students shouldn't lose sight of the importance of learning to relax their muscles to prevent them from tearing. This is why breathing exercises prior to class are so important.

Unfortunately, even among many fitness-conscious enthusiasts, stretching out before working out is given short shrift. They're either too busy, or in their zeal to get their workout over with, they sprint over the gym's warm-up mats and land in the Lifecycle seat eager to pedal their way to good health.

Even at my local YMCA, there are only two mats available for stretching, and they're tucked away neatly and unobtrusively in two corners of the room in such a way that you can enter the room and never see them unless you turn your head sharply to the right or left. About half the people, upon entering the room, head straight for the machines.

But ten minutes of stretching can save days of discomfort. In fact, after you get into the habit of stretching, you'll gain a renewed appreciation for those who practice the stretching art of yoga, which is far from the lightweight workout many associate with it. (Who knows? You might even decide to supplement your martial arts training by practicing yoga in a group setting or at home on your own.)

The secret to stretching is time. The more you give it, the more you'll get out of it. Even though most martial arts schools will begin every class with warm-ups followed by stretching, it pays to fill the time prior to the official start of class with your own warm-ups and stretches. (And chances are you'll arrive early for class, since most instructors, unless given a good reason, expect their students to be punctual.)

It's not easy to get yourself into this routine. More often than not, the period prior to the official start of class looks something like this: Students mill around the training floor either staring into space or, if they can get away with it, talk­ing with their fellow classmates. Then there are the students who make themselves comfortable on the floor and halfheart­edly stretch out. They might make feeble attempts to touch their toes, or they might lie on their back and try to stretch their back thigh muscles by raising their legs, one at a time, toward the ceiling while pulling them toward their head. While these exercises are common and effective, they've got to be done with effort. In an effort to get the most out of their stretches, some students stretch only from a standing position, thus resisting the lure of the floor.

What also stops students from warming up before class is the idea that they might overexert themselves. You'll see this a lot, even during class—a general reluctance by students to push themselves for fear that they'll be too tired to make it through class or they won't perform up to their potential because they wore themselves out earlier. Don't let yourself fall into this trap. For one thing, you won't overexert yourself doing warm-ups and stretching exercises; you'll only invigo­rate yourself. Also, a good instructor keeps his finger on the pulse of the class and knows when it has been overworked.

Related Articles

• How to Stretch Your Limits in Martial Arts
• How do you know when you're warmed up?
• Warm Up and Stretch Out Suggestions in Martial Arts

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