Fitness Instructors: Please take the time to film proper warm ups

[summer breeze]

ITA about chaptering. How can anyone produce a DVD without chaptering? How? It drives me insane. I'm not one for long warm ups but I like to do a few minutes and then skip ahead to the workout. But for those who like long warm ups, it's there for them. I also like to mix and match my workouts, so chaptering is really a must for me.

[Joni O]

More and more, I'm liking the warm-up included in the workout so you just start out doing the actual workout a little more slowly or with lighter weights. Isn't that what 'they' say is the best warm-up anyway?

That said, I guess I sort of take it back. Maybe that's best only with a short unchaptered workout. Otherwise, if you start with another chapter, you won't get the warm-up. I'm thinking of Leslie workouts where I want do maybe the second and third miles only. Then I'd miss the warm-up. Oh, I'm confused. I do like it when I actually do the first mile, though.

Hmmm. Well, I'm not deleting this now that I've spent all this time typing before thinking.

[Debbie S.]

Originally Posted by Gams

I'm just the opposite - I'd rather not have a long warm up and cool down. I'm perfectly happy doing what I need on my own and having a larger portion of the DVD dedicated to the "meat" of the workout. I feel like I get more bang for my buck that way and I like doing my own thing for the warm up/cool down.

I'd rather not have a warm up or cool down either. If I'm doing straight cardio DVD, then I don't mind a short warm up that builds into the routine.

I always do a shortish cardio workout prior to my strength workouts, and I always cool down on my own before stretching with my foam roller and miracle ball.

As far as stretches before your workout, I think that is no longer recommended if your muscles are not warmed up. They now recommend you do your stretches after your workout.

[dianestjohn]

I'm not good about doing my own long warm-ups or cool-downs, so I would really like them included in the workout. One thing I love about my old step videos from the 80s is there seems to be long warm-ups in them, to me the workout itself seems SO much easier after a long warm-up. Chaptering would be a great idea for those who want shorter, or no, warm-ups and cool-downs.

I also REALLLLYYYYYY wish that, for most barre videos (Pure Barre specifically) there was an option to do the 45-minute workout as is, OR to extend it by maybe 10 more minutes and hold all the stretches for much longer. I love Pure Barre but I'm always puzzled by the Pure Barre stretches - I have timed them and it's almost always 20 seconds of this, 20 seconds of that, etc. - not sure if that's somehow important to the method - if we held the stretches longer would we not get as good results or something? It seems to be more than just a time thing, it's like a blueprint that must be followed exactly or something.

[Sue B]

Count me in with those who prefer short warm ups, no more than maybe 5 minutes. I'd like to see more joint-mobility warm ups like the ones from Core Performance.

[Jane P.]

A weight workout with a choreographed warm up frustrates me. I want to get to the weight lifting, not do a semi dance routine. I don't mind warm ups on choreographed cardio routines, if they naturally lead into the workout choreography. However, if a dvd contains a warm up, I usually do it as is because it's just easier than thinking up something on my own.

When I'm recovering from illness or injury (as I am right now) sometimes the warm up is the only thing I can do. It's better than nothing.

[Mommapew]

This is what I don't get about the UGI workouts. The first excercise is jumping jacks in your bare feet.

I don't recall seeing anything anywhere that they recommend you do a WU on your own.

So sure the workout is 30 minutes which they are marketing to but with no WU or CD.

[Debbie S.]

It could be that a lot of today's workouts are channeling Jack LaLanne's philosophy on warm ups and cool downs:

"Warming Up is for Sissies

You'd think that a fitness expert would tell you to warm up before a vigorous exercise, but not Jack LaLanne. No, Sirree! From an interview with Outside Magazine:

"Now, you listen to some of these so-called sports-medicine experts today--****! It's just shtick. It's just something else to sell. Warming up," he scoffed, adjusting a red ascot fitted neatly into his jumpsuit, "warming up is the biggest bunch of horse**** I've ever heard in my life. Fifteen minutes to warm up! Does a lion warm up when he's hungry? 'Uh-oh, here comes an antelope. Better warm up.' No! He just goes out and eats the sucker. You gotta get the blood circulating, but ****, does the lion cool down? No, he eats the sucker and goes to sleep. And that," he concluded, folding his arms into a variation of the pose, "is the truth."

[blzgrl]

Originally Posted by Debbie S.

It could be that a lot of today's workouts are channeling Jack LaLanne's philosophy on warm ups and cool downs:

"Warming Up is for Sissies

Hilarious! Do you know how old he was when he said this? Maybe age changed his mind. 15 minutes is a long time, though.

My husband does push ups in his hotel room when he travels, and he told me last night that he's going to start at least doing some arm circles first instead of just diving in so he doesn't have pain. He's 50.

[Debbie S.]

Originally Posted by blzgrl

Hilarious! Do you know how old he was when he said this? Maybe age changed his mind. 15 minutes is a long time, though.

My husband does push ups in his hotel room when he travels, and he told me last night that he's going to start at least doing some arm circles first instead of just diving in so he doesn't have pain. He's 50.

I'm trying to find the answer. In the meantime, here's a bit more from that interview with Outside magazine:

"In an edgy Outside magazine article written by Donald Katz, the always-quotable LaLanne pooh-poohed a lot of modern training " knowledge " with some gems, including saying Suzanne Somers " should have been thrown in jail " for peddling the ThighMaster as a fitness solution and that Tony Little was an embarrassment:"