Warm-up is an important part of all sports training, and its importance is to avoid the occurrence of sports injuries. Reduces risk factors for injury. An effective warm-up contains many important elements that work together to minimize the risk of injury during exercise.
Warming up is an exercise that precedes physical activity and has many benefits, and the primary effect of warming up is to prepare the body and mind for hard training. Helps the body increase the body’s core temperature, muscle temperature, and the increase in muscle temperature can make muscles more relaxed and flexible. Effective warm-ups can increase heart rate, number of times, and depth and frequency of breathing. Increases blood flow and blood oxygen and nutrients to the muscles, which help the tendons and joints of the muscles undergo more strenuous training.
First of all, warming up requires a step-by-step process. The aim is to be able to achieve more intense training through this process. Warming up is the beginning of simple and easy movements, therefore, every person who exercises should incorporate warm-up into an important part of their goals.
A complete warm-up activity should include: a general warm-up; resting muscle stretching; Sports-specific warm-ups and dynamic muscle stretching. All four parts are important, and any one of them cannot be ignored! The combined action of the four components gives a positive effect on the body and mind, thus bringing the athlete’s body to peak condition.
Note: Here are a few examples of warm-up exercises
1. Bend forward
Action essentials: Stand with your feet in a figure of eight, your chest straight, your arms naturally droop, palms against the outside of your thighs, palms inward, palms pointing down. Then cross your fingers with both hands and raise your arms straight up; The upper body slowly leans forward, raises the head, straightens the chest, bends the waist, and touches the ground as much as possible. Then hold your heels with both hands, gradually pressing your chest to your legs, and stand still for a moment. Finally, with both feet as the axis, turn the body 90° to the left and right, press the ground with both hands to the outside of the left foot, and raise your head for a moment. Straighten your legs, tuck in your abdomen, tuck your hips, and do your best to lean forward (as shown in Figure 1–Figure 3).
Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3
Practice steps: First do the front bending exercise of the open step, and gradually do the forward bending with both feet together and the hands touching the ground and holding the legs, and hold them for a certain time.
Practice requirements: pay attention to the essentials of the movement, use the hand to prompt the knee not to bend, so that the practitioner can make the knee joint straight.
2. Footwork stretching
Lunge leg press: one foot forward step bent knee half squat, thigh parallel to the ground, knee perpendicular to toe, toe inward, the other leg back straight knee, full foot on the ground, hands on the waist, turn left and right to move (as shown in Figure 4–Figure 5).
Figure 4
Figure 5
Action points: chest straight, waist collapse, hip sinking, front leg arch, back leg on the ground.
Action requirements: Hip pressing, knees straight, heels on the ground.
Servant step pressing legs: one leg bent knee full squat, the other leg straight knee, toe buckle; Grasp the outside of the feet with both hands, press down and vibrate in a servant step, move the legs left and right to change steps so that the action is not too fast, and move the hips as close to the ground as possible (as shown in Figure 6–Figure 7).
Figure 6
Figure 7
Action essentials: chest straight, waist collapse, hip sinking; Stretch one leg straight and squat with the other.
Action requirements: one hand presses the knee joint, the other hand grasps the ankle, and the outside of the front foot can be pressed against a fixed object to do pressure vibration exercises.
3. Splitting legs
Vertical fork
Raise both arms sideways or support the ground; The legs are separated in a straight line back and forth, with one leg landing on the ground with the toes facing up; The other leg lands on the inside or front of the ground (vice versa). (Figure 8–Figure 9)
Figure 8
Figure 9
Action essentials: head up, chest straight, waist, hip tuck, knee extended, legs in a straight line.
Practice steps :
(1) Do leg pressing exercises before vertical forks, and then gradually do downward splitting movements with hand support ribs.
(2) Do a downward split without supporting the hand. The upper body can also hold the front foot with both hands when leaning forward, and the lower jaw is extended forward as much as possible, close to the toes, and consume the legs.
(3) The companion wrenches his shoulders back with both hands, steps on the base of his hind legs, and spends an appropriate period of time after stepping on and stepping on them; You can also use this method to lean forward, using both hands to press their hips or waist forward and down.
Practice Request:
(1) The waist and hips are straightened, and the knee joint of the hind legs is straight.
(2) The front leg toe hook is tightly facing up.
Crossfork
Action Essentials:
The practitioner raises both arms flat on their sides or supports the ground in front of the body. Spread your legs in a straight line from side to side, with both feet on the inside of their legs on the ground or on tiptoes (as shown in Figure 10).
Figure 10
Practice steps :
1) Do leg pressing exercises before vertical forks, and then gradually do downward splitting movements with hand support ribs.
2) Do a downward split without holding your hand. The upper body can also hold the front foot with both hands when leaning forward, and the lower jaw is extended forward as much as possible, close to the toes, and consume the legs.
3) The companion wrenches his shoulders back with both hands, steps on the base of his hind legs, and spends an appropriate period of time after stepping on and stepping on them; You can also use this method to lean forward, using both hands to press their hips or waist forward and down.
Practice Request:
1) The waist and hips are straightened, and the knee joint of the hind leg is straight.
2) The front leg toe hook is tightly facing up.
4. Pile work
Pile gong is a martial art exercise with special significance in the basic martial arts, which mainly refers to the martial arts exercises that seek movement in stillness, practice in stillness, gather power quietly, and quickly dominate people. Stand on both legs, practice lunge pile, horse step pile, Hunyuan pile, etc. are all solid legs, stabilize the body, calm the brain, sink the dantian, lead the qi with intention, adjust the qi and train the qi.
Seeking tranquility in motion, you are in gathering qi, adjusting qi, exerting force, seeking movement in stillness, aiming to practice qi, gather qi, strengthen qi, exert force, and have the power to push mountains. Therefore, it is said that practicing pile exercises can enhance leg strength, coordinate the upper limbs to complete the movements, cooperate with the lower limbs, and make the upper and lower limbs form a whole. For beginners, lunge, horse step and various pile exercises in the Shaolin school should be practiced frequently, combined with punching exercises (as shown in Figure 11–Figure 13).
Figure 11
Figure 12
Figure 13
