Welcome to the Get Fit Guys quick and dirty tips to slim down and shape up.

My name is Ben Greenfield and I'm the Get Fit Guy.

So let's say you walk into the gym or you decide you're going to head out for a run.

What do you do first?

Some arm swings and leg swings, maybe touch your toes for a while, run in place

for 60 seconds, do a bout of yoga? Well, sometimes it can be confusing to figure out how to get

your body ready for exercise. So in this episode, you'll learn how to warm up before exercise,

the best way to warm up, and whether cardio, stretching, or something else is best. In the episode How to Warm Up and whether cardio stretching or something else is best in the episode how to warm

up and cool down which i'll link to from the show notes over at getfeit guy dot quick and dirty tips

dot com you learned that when you warm up several things happen to help prepare you for exercise

including dilation of your blood vessels. That means as your blood

vessels dilate or they get bigger, your heart doesn't have to work so hard to deliver blood,

and you have less risk of high blood pressure during exercise. Increased temperature, when you

stretch a cold rubber band, it can potentially snap. The same is true of muscle. By warming your muscle

tissue, you can increase muscle elasticity and range of motion, and you allow your muscle to contract

more efficiently while reducing risk of strains and pulls. In addition, oxygen in warm blood

becomes more readily available to muscle tissue. Better cooling.

In the same way that the air conditioning in your car works more efficiently when your car is warmed up, when you break a sweat during your pre-workout warm up, you've successfully activated your

body's built-in cooling mechanisms.

Hormone production.

As you warm up, your body begins producing hormones like epinephrine,

endorphins, growth hormone, and testosterone, all of which either make you feel better during

...