Before beginning any exercise program, it’s important to warm up first. Until I learned better, I always thought that “warming up” meant turning on the heater and curling up in a blanket in front of the television set with a bag of potato chips. But I’ve since learned that there’re more to it than that.
Warm-up exercises increase your heart rate and body temperature. They also help prepare you for more strenuous physical activities. But their primary purpose is to prevent injury. (I never got injured eating potato chips and watching television, but I wasn’t burning many calories, either.)
Now, the most important thing about warm-up exercises is picking a safe place to do them. I recommend never doing them under an open gym locker. The benefit of warm-up exercises is greatly reduced if you knock yourself out before beginning them.
Getting a head start and doing your warm-up exercises during your history class isn’t a good idea, either. While stretching your arms upward, you could mistakenly get called on by your teacher to give the answer to the question on the chalkboard. And no matter how confidently you say it, the Boston Tea Party isn’t a ride at Disneyland, and the midnight ride of Paul Revere did not result in his license being taken away by his parents.
Another good reason for not doing your stretching exercises in class is that a fellow student could trip over your extended leg and end up moving up to the head of the class the hard way. (Most students prefer doing this by getting good grades, not by being catapulted.)
If your gym class happens to be after your lunch period, you might be tempted to begin your warm-up exercising in the cafeteria. This isn’t a good idea, either. There’s no telling how many lunch trays you could knock over while doing jumping jacks in line.
Also, while head circles can limber your neck muscles, I’d suggest never doing them at the water fountain. You could drown yourself.
Arm circles are a good warm-up exercise, too, and can be performed in a number of places without consequence. This is where you stretch your arms out to your sides and then slowly turn them in a circular motion. Arm circles can be especially beneficial in cooking class when the cinnamon rolls are just out of reach. I wouldn’t do them while walking down the hall between classes, though. You might end up accidentally slapping awake some of the kids who are sleepwalking to their next class, and they might not appreciate it.
Whatever warm-up exercises you chose to do, the important thing is that you do them. Warm-up exercises help keep you limber, reduce stress and clear your mind of a lot of needless clutter. And sorry, as much as I wish it did, lifting a phone to our ear doesn’t count . . . no matter how many times we have to redial.
