Why is warm-up important?

1. Warming up increases the muscles’ blood supply and temperature.

2. It improves cardiovascular function and respiration.

3. It decreases the possibility of an injury.

4. It preps the nervous system for the exercise and improves muscle-nerve coordination.

5. It increases the range of motion in the joints. This way the exercise can be performed more accurately.

Warming up and stretching are two different concepts. Warming up is to be performed first. The cold muscles should not be stretched as this can lead to micro-lacerations and in severe cases, muscle fibre tears.

FITFIVE places a huge emphasis on warm-up.

The FITFIVE warm-up system is complete with frequent movement of different body parts.

You can move all major muscles and joints thoroughly with joint movement exercises. Do this before each practise!

Always perform movements slowly and deliberately. Do not jerk or spring your muscles because they are susceptible to injury while cold!

Repeat each warm-up exercise 3 to 5 times. For paired exercises, alternate left and right.

If a part of your body feels stiff or you enjoy a certain exercise more, spend more time on it.

Before you begin the total body warm up, do 2-3 aerobic exercises such as jog in one place or jump up and down in order to speed up your circulation.