Warming Up and Cooling Down

Key Requirements for Warming up and Cooling Down

Why do you need to warm up?

Warming up is very important for preventing yourself from getting injured during your session. It prepares the body for what is to come and activated the correct muscle groups to be firing accordingly for the exercise’s which are about to be performed. So you can perform to your optimal level.

Stages of a warm-up:

• Heart Raiser to above 140 BPM for 5 to 10 minutes.

• Dynamic Stretches relevant to the session plan.

• Muscle group Activation Exercises relevant to the session plan (isolation usually).

• Imitating the movements in which will be performed during the session.

Making sure that your body is prepared and firing correctly. Blood is circulating thoroughly, and your joints are ready to withstand resistance/impact/weights/sport.

Why do you need to cool down?

Cooling down will prevent your DOMs: (Delayed Onset Muscle Soares) from being as bad as it could be the days after without cooling down properly. Its purpose is to loosen any tightness which may have well occurred during the session within your muscles. Reduce heart rate and breathing rates down to the normal rate and return muscles back to their optimal length-tension relationships, prevent venous pooling of blood in the lower extremities, which may cause dizziness or possible fainting, and restore physiologic systems.

• Do a re-warm if needed, for 5 minutes to then be ready for a deep stretch out.

• Static stretches for maintenance or flexibility depending on your goals

Warming Up in a bit more detail

• Heart Raiser:

Hop onto a cardio machine and raise your heart rate gradually or do a functional full body warm up such as star jumps, high knees, mountain climbers or squats for example with 20-30 seconds time limits.

• Dynamic Stretches:

Repetitively moving your joints round their fullest range of motion to increase circulation and elasticity: arm rotations, shoulder rotations, hip rotations, knee rotations, ankle-wrist rotations and neck rotations for example. This could be walking lunges or squats with no weights even, preparing the body for the workout.

• Activation:

This could be for example if you were going to train legs you would want to isolate your glutes, quads and hamstrings prior to the workout. Basically any major muscle groups which take the most impact in the workout, this could include: glute bridges, lying down leg extensions, standing with hands behind head good mornings (hamstrings) or even hamstring bridge’s.

Upper body: wall angels, Side-lying Thoracic spine rotation with arm reach (chest, back, shoulder), rotator cuff external rotations, banded revers rows or even basic press ups.

Cooling Down in a bit more detail

• A re-warm would include just raising your heart rate back up to 140 bpm if its dropped, then slowly coming out of it to stretch out afterword’s and perhaps even finish off with some foam rolling.

• Types of stretching: (depending on your flexibility goal this will vary):

ballistic stretching.

dynamic stretching.

active stretching.

passive (or relaxed) stretching.

static stretching.

isometric stretching.

PNF stretching.

Foam rolling 

A foam roller is a lightweight, cylindrical tube of compressed foam.

It may be used for many reasons, including increasing flexibility, reducing muscles soreness, and eliminating muscle knots. Foam rolling is a method of self-myofascial release which is the equivalent to giving yourself a Deep Tissue Sports Massage.

Always ensure to foam roll after you have completed your static stretches and not before.

You can also use tennis balls for doing active release. It is an excellent way, yet painful way in aiding muscle recovery.