Karate warm up exercises are an integral part of the Goju-Ryu Syllabus. Our typical class will do 15 – 20 minutes of warm ups before proceeding to the more strenuous exercises in the syllabus. Formally, these exercises also known as Calisthenics were designed to prevent muscle injuries by loosening and strengthening the muscles.

The goju-ryu warm up exercises are split in two namely dynamic warm ups and static warm ups.

The dynamic element of the warm ups is done first to increases the blood flow, elasticity of the muscles, ligaments and tendons. Dynamic activity results in glycogen being called on by the body to fuel the exercises. As more oxygen is required to fuel the movements, breathing increases and heart rate also increases to pump the blood with the extra oxygen to the muscles. In dynamic warm ups our students are encouraged to undertake aerobic style exercises such as running on the spot, jumping, moving arms and legs in different directions to name only a few.

The static element of warm ups is then done on the muscle groups exercised in the later class. The static element of the warm ups is designed to loosen the body by indulging in arm stretching, back stretching, leg stretching, leg spreading, trunk twisting, neck twisting, trunk bending to name only a few. This stretching increase a student’s range of motion.