Warm Up and Stretching routine

[ArthurSFox]

Was wondering what you guys do before a workout at the gym, go for walk, a run etc...?

I was thinking about joining a gym this year because I found out through my health insurance that they use a service that has discount rates for gym memberships. Instead of paying $450 for the year its like $125. Since this is my first time in years doing something like this outside of highschool I forgot how to do this properly. If I want a person to evaluate me there that will cost $250 for 25 minutes session :/.

This is why I am asking my fellow fitbit members and also because this sounds like a good topic that others should know.

[ericshubbard]

ArthurSFox, it is great that you are wanting to begin your journey to becoming fit unless you are already there.  I will tell you that I started my journey about 4 or 5 years ago which I actually started in the gym as well.  After about 3 ot 6 mouths I realized that I was not gaining the results that I wanted by simply doing cardio machines and simply lifting weights.  There is nothing inheritly wrong with doing those exercises but for me they simply did not give me the results that I wanted to see.  This is why I moved to doing in home workouts such as P90x, P90x2 and P90x3.  I have done those three excerses pretty much exclusively for the last 4 years and have had great results.  I have lost over 50 pounds and a little over 10% body fat.  If you are completely new to fitness you may want to look into the new program that was just release called P90.  P90 is for beginners and it will ease you into fitness.  Once you complete P90 you could then graduate to one of the other 3 programs.  Each of these programs explains how to do each exersice properly to help prevent injury.  The concept behind these programs as well is called functional fitness.  When people go to the gym he or she is simply not doing excersies that are functional based on how human move on the Earth.  Becoming stronger and being able to run for 30 minutes are very beneficial but those excersies are just not how people move on a daily basis.  Humans move up, down, left, right, foward, and backward on a daily basis and this is what these programs train.  

If you want more information or have any questions about any of these programs just let me know.  I will also let you know that I am not a BeachBody coach in any way or affilated with them.  I am simply someone who has used their products and found that they really do work if you put the time and effort into them.  Let me know if you have any questions.

[_daniel_]

If I'm focusing on strength training, I'll  warm up with a 10 minute walk on a treadmill. I don't believe it is good idea to start off running as a warm up. Now if I am focusing on cardio, I do the same thing but increase the speed and incline after about 5 minutes, and I continue for at least 45 minutes.  Sometimes I run in that portion of my workout. 

BTW, I much prefer going to the gym over working out at home alone with a DVD. 

[sdbelle10]

It depends on what you're doing, right? If you're doing cardio or leg exercises, stretch your legs out before hand. Dynamic stretches tend to be better as warm ups while static stretches tend to be better for cooldowns. Most people start off with cardio even if they're doing weights, but some studies have argued the point that whichever one you focus on should be done first. So if you really wanna work out lifting heavier objects, do weights first and then go to cardio as a cooldown. The weight lifting plan I'm following right now has 25-30 minutes of cardio after every weight lifting session. The point of pre-workout stretching is to make the body limber, post-workout its to keep the body from getting stiff. 

Hope this helps and good luck!

[gerrymcd]

I always start a workout with 10 or more minutes on a treadmill or elliptical machine. I need to be fully warmed up before I even touch a weight or strength machine. That said, we are all different and I know people who never warmup or stretch before s workout.