An easy five-minute jog or five minutes of light spin on the bike. When you break a light sweat your muscles are warm enough to stretch. Strength training has tremendous carryover benefits in both injury prevention and performance. But there's a latest, greatest weight training routine out each month. Mayflies multiply slower.
Squats done with dumbbells are a great lower-body exercise.
One exercise for the legs, one for the abdominals, one for the low back, one upper body pushing exercise and one upper body pulling exercise,'' says strength specialist Harvey Newton. If those are multiple joint movements, then essentially every muscle group is included. Lift heavy, says Newton, 6-8 reps at the most. When the lift gets easy, add more weight. If you just want to make weight training part of a rounded fitness program, says Porcari, you don't need much.