Warming up

Warming up should be about getting the blood flowing to your muscles and raising the heart rate to prepare your body. Your warm up removes the waste from your muscles, brings fluids to your muscles and opens up your body. You should avoid static movements, save them for your cool and stretch. Use this time to correct any posture imperfections or imbalances, set yourself up to get the most out of your workout.

Our top five tips...

• Keep it dynamic – Walking lunges, lateral squats, arm circles or calf raises

• Jump around –Increase your heart rate and set yourself up for a good calorie burning session. Try skipping, star jumps or high knees. Keep going for at least three consecutive minutes.

• Swing into action – Your muscles are like rubber bands, they will snap when they are cold. Open up and stretch them out by doing arm circles, front to back leg swings, cross-body leg swings and ‘opening the gate’ whilst walking.

• Animal instincts – Tap into you primitive years and try these great warm up exercises – bear crawls, crab walks or frog jumps!

• Build it up - Whatever you are planning on doing for your main session, start off slower, with less resistance or smaller weights. Allow your muscles to build up for the main activity.