Recently in Warm-up Category

I'm thinking this morning about that old saying about the best-laid plans often going astray. Yesterday afternoon, I was working on a story filled with great tips about how to properly warm up before a workout (everything from jumping jacks and modified push-ups to squats and lunges), and I headed downstairs to the gym fully intending to try a few of these out before climbing on the EDM and cranking into my routine. Of course, all the colorful green mats set up for that purpose on the starboard side of the cardio room were occupied (as is often the case), so I shrugged and wandered over to the elliptical and got after it without a proper warm up (although the EDM also is known for its warm-up qualities).

I was a bit relieved, to be perfectly candid:  Would I have actually peformed a set of jumping jacks? Push-ups? (I'm recalling junior high phy-ed classes; it's not a fond memory.) The closest thing to a warm-up routine I've ever actually done at the gym involved a hasty set of knee-to-chest moves, which seem less dorky than any of the other warm ups I've read about. I've done planks and some futile stretching on the mats, but it always feels a litte too public -- a little inappropriate.

Anyway, I did a happily anonymous 40 minutes on the EDM, burning off a bit more than 500 calories. I intended to do my usual 45-minute routine, but I got started a little later than usual (more unintentional consequences) and wanted to get in a half-hour of lifting before I had to head for home. I stayed away from The Pit and made the rounds among the friendlier machines, starting at the lower end of my lifting ability and upping the poundage with each successive set. I actually handled a 10-rep set at 130 lbs. for the first time on the clapping-hands-together machine!

Down in The Pit, guys who beat their personal best on the bench press or some other maneuver tend to whoop it up a little with their spotter. And, because I had not planned to push myself very much last night, I was kind of surprised to have topped any previous best. So, I'd like to report that I stood up and pumped my fist, raised my hands over my head and did a little Rocky Balboa victory dance, but you know that would be a big fat lie.

That nasty northwest wind I mentioned yesterday was out in force this morning, knifing through my corduroys like a hundred icy daggers. Of course, like a good Minnesotan, I just put my head down and pushed on through. Not a day to admire the landscape.

Still, I couldn't help noticing today that, no matter the temperature, my body's furnace starts to kick in around the same point in my walk -- always about halfway through the park, about 15 minutes into the journey. And, from that point on, my body begins to relax against the elements, my muscles loosen up, and I can feel the heat begin to rise from inside my jacket.

On above-zero days, this is usually where my hat comes off and my scarf gets unwound from my neck (too cold today for that luxury). So, I'm wondering: What exactly is going on inside of me that makes this happen at exactly the same point in my journey every day?

I'm no fitness expert, but it appears that what I'm experiencing is your basic warm-up regimen. As Kermit Pattison explains it in a March 2007 EL story, that 15 minutes of brisk walking is simply priming my body for a more rigorous workout. It increases blood flow, muscle metabolism and aerobic-energy production -- all of which raises my body's temperature by two or three degrees.

And because my morning walk always takes me on the same route at the same pace, I'm guessing that my body's furnace is going to kick in at pretty much the same place every day, no matter how cold it is. In a proper fitness regimen, I suppose I'd begin jogging at that point -- rip off that last mile and a quarter in seven minutes and arrive at the office bathed in sweat, my computer case hanging precariously from my heaving shoulder, happily primed for a day of energetic wordsmithing. Or, maybe not.

I guess I'd rather walk. And quietly appreciate the way my body's engine warms me on even the coldest January morning. I'll save the sweaty stuff for the gym tonight.