Team SKY encourage all the members of their team to partake in a standard warm up that they believe increases blood flow, allows muscle activation and stimulates the neural system – everything you need to prepare yourself for a powerful cycle ride.

Original post on JLL Fitness

The Warm Up

• 5 minutes light spinning

• 8 minutes progressive to zone 5 (see video)

• 2 minutes easy

• 2 minutes including 3 x 6 second sprints

• 3 minutes easy

Why Warm Up?

Training is fundamental, whether you are leading up to a race or are simply keeping fit, but a proper warm up will prepare your body for any type of work out. As Shaun Stephens states, Team SKY use this warm up for all types of races – both long and short.

Image source: Flickr – Newsbiepix

It is important to get your body up and running before you start to exercise, just like you would turn on the engine of your car on a cold morning before you would start to drive – it is the same for our bodies. One of the most important parts of a warm up is turning on your anaerobic energy system, something that the Team SKY’s warm up is based upon.

Using your anaerobic energy system before you start exercising will make sure you use your energy more efficiently, allowing your body to give the best performance possible. As well as warming up your body, you will be able to psychologically warm up too – allowing you to enter the right frame of mind to compete, train, or work out.

Thank you to Roisin Byrne for contributing this article, you can catch Roisin on Twitter or Facebook here.