How to Properly Prepare Your Body Before Exercise

Preparing your body before starting any workout is not just a preliminary step—it is essential for protecting your muscles and joints and ensuring better performance during exercise. Proper preparation boosts your energy levels, reduces the risk of injury, and improves your body’s endurance. By combining an effective warm-up routine with proper hydration and the right nutrition, you can begin any physical activity with confidence and efficiency.

In this article, we explore the most important steps to help you prepare your body optimally before exercising.

The Importance of Warming Up Before Exercise

Mobilizing the joints helps increase range of motion — Image by Freepik

According to Harvard Health, here are the key steps for safe and effective warm-up:

1. General Warm-Up (5–10 minutes)

This helps raise body temperature and stimulate blood circulation. You can try:

Fast walking or light jogging
Jump rope
Jumping jacks
Going up and down the stairs

2. Dynamic Stretching (not static stretching)

Dynamic stretches prepare your muscles and joints without overloading them. Examples include:

Shoulder and arm circles
Hip rotations
Alternating knee lifts
Light front kicks (leg swings)

3. Activating the Core Muscles

This is especially useful before strength training. Try:

Glute bridges
A short plank
Light, weight-free squats

4. Joint Mobility Work

Increases range of motion and reduces the risk of injury:

Ankle circles
Knee rotations
Opening and closing the hip joint
Wrist circles

5. Mental Preparation and Breathing

Take a deep inhale and a slow exhale for a few seconds. Set your workout goals and focus on posture and the harmony between movement and breath.

3 Tips Before Starting Your Workout

Drink enough water 20–30 minutes before exercising.
Avoid long static stretches before your workout—keep them for the cool-down phase.
If you feel unusual pain during the warm-up, reduce the intensity or switch exercises.

Nutrition and Hydration Before Exercise

Proper nutrition and hydration are essential for improving the body’s performance and supporting weight loss.

Exercise 3 to 5 times per week as an ideal routine.
Include a variety of foods from all five groups: proteins, healthy fats, carbohydrates, fruits, and vegetables.
Add healthy ingredients like olive oil, avocado, raw cocoa, green tea extract, and grapefruit—they support fat burning.
Oats are an excellent whole-grain food rich in protein, minerals, and carbohydrates.
Drink water anytime during the day—before meals, after meals, before exercise, during exercise, or after exercising.
Eat your meal two hours before the workout, or have fruit 30 minutes before exercising, or better yet, right after.
Have five balanced meals throughout the day to supply steady energy, improve mood, and reduce cravings.
Reduce salt and replace it with herbs, spices, and lemon juice.
Cut down on sugar—use a small spoonful of honey instead when needed.
Healthy cooking is essential: avoid fatty meats and avoid using ghee or butter in cooking.
Avoid fried food—choose grilling or steaming instead.
Eat fish twice a week for healthy unsaturated fats.
Consume five servings of fruits and vegetables daily. They provide essential vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants.
Replace sugary drinks and sodas with nutrient-rich green juices packed with minerals, vitamins, and fiber.

Key Nutrients to Prepare Your Body for Exercise

Replace fast-digesting starches with slow-digesting complex carbohydrates such as whole-wheat bread, bulgur, oats, and quinoa.
Include legumes—they provide both complex carbohydrates and protein, and they help lower cholesterol due to their fiber content.
Ensure adequate calcium intake from foods like dried figs, white beans, kale, almonds, oranges, salmon, sardines, sesame seeds, milk, and dairy products.
Reduce stress, effort, and tension.
Avoid smoking—it leads to heart disease, gum disease, lung disease, and increases the risk of heart attacks, strokes, COPD, and various cancers including lung, throat, and pancreatic cancers. It also causes vascular diseases and high blood pressure.