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Warming up is an essential part of any physical exercise or activity, so if you don't know your gluteus maximus from your radio-ulna then please read on and I hope that you will find some useful information and help you get the most from your pole dancing, for exercise or fun. Warming up should take place before you start your training, work out or pole practice, if you stop your activity and become cool then you should re-warm and continue.

So - What Is A Warm Up?
Warming up is doing exactly what it says on the tin, warming up the body and mind in preparation for exercise or working out, this could be on the pole or not.
Before we begin to talk about what we can do to warm up, we should first understand why this is important. Warming up is not a bit of bending and stretching -while we are on the subject please be aware that you should NEVER stretch cold muscles. 

The Aim of a Warm up & Why We Warm Up
We need to increase the blood flow to the muscles, raise the core temperature of our body, increase mobility in our joints and increase our heart rate. So this is all well and good knowing what we are aiming for - you need to know why now, so I will try & explain!

Increasing the blood flow to the muscles will help them to work more efficiently, prevent injury and even discomfort, as the blood vessels dilate and expand this means they can help the energy systems that your body uses to work, also increasing the amount of oxygengenated blood to the working muscle. This should also increase your performance and help your body to meet the demands you are placing on it.
Next increasing mobility and heart rate, gradually increasing the exercise intensity or speed at which you are performing it will increase the heart rate and core temperature.
For example - jogging on the spot and adding intensity by moving your arms above your head and back down again to your sides rhythmically. You need to gradually ease yourself into exercise rather than going at it like a bull in a china shop!
Joint mobility - as we become warm the synovial fluid that lives inside our joints becomes more 'runny' this lubricates the joints and helps us as the movement becomes easier, it also prevents injury as you should be gradually moving about and not jarring or damaging the joints in any way, shape or form.

So Lets move onto........  How to Warm Up
This part is important especially if you want to remain injury free and fighting fit!
Movements should be performed through a large range of motion or movement to use large muscle groups; this is also because you don't want to wear yourself out! Imagine the smaller muscles helping the larger ones -they don't necessarily use up much energy but they will get tired faster than those larger muscles and won't be able to do their job as well later on in your work out, also very important as you don't want an injury!
It is also important to remember the joints need to be warmed up slowly - increasing the mobility will help you perform your moves and followed by a stretching routine will increase the joint's range of motion & this will increase your flexibility and allow you to hang off the pole while at the same time your ankle is wrapped around your head! (Please note - this is not advisable BUT is achievable if you stretch regularly)

So you need to get moving, slower to start with building up the speed and intensity. Some activities you can use are - walking increasing slowly to jogging, skipping, cycling, and some aerobic activity -e.g. step touch, hamstring curl, grapevine and box step. I'm sure there are plenty of moves you can think of yourself too, whatever you choose you need to keep moving for approx 5 -15 minutes so by the end of your warm up you should feel warmer but not be feeling fatigued. 

Being Safe and Not Sorry
Whatever you are planning to do -missing out your warm up could spell trouble for you! Looking after your body is important and by not warming up properly you can damage or injure yourself & that can even mean being out of action for some time, so please take care of your body! Ask your fitness instructor for more info or help.  Remember - fail to prepare and prepare to fail.

Some quick Do's and Don'ts

*Don't jump on the pole when you are 'cold'
*Don't stretch cold muscles
*Don't circle your head - use a box shape movement instead.
*Don't exercise when you are injured

*Do keep warm
*Do stay hydrated; drink plenty of water when you need it
*Do know your limits

Article by: Sonia Allcock