Importance Of Warm-Up And Cool-Down Exercises

If you’re working with a trainer, you often do a short session of warm-up exercises and follow your workout with cool-down ones. Each type of exercise serves a different purpose and can help prevent injury and boost your performance. Each one uses different stretches or movements and serves a different purpose. You’re warming your muscles, as the name implies, during warm-up exercises. You’re cooling your body and slowing your heart rate on cool-down ones.

When you do warm-up exercises, you warm more than just your extremities.

If you’ve ever jumped out of bed and felt a little woozy, you’ve experienced what happens when your body isn’t ready for the task. Going from sedate and unchallenged to far more intense movements requires many changes. Your heart has to beat harder and faster, more blood needs to pump to the extremities, and your muscles need to become looser and more flexible. Warm-up exercises do all those things. It gradually increases your heart rate and improves circulation. It slowly warms the muscles so they’re more flexible and less likely to be injured by a sudden, forceful movement.

Cool down workouts help prevent muscle soreness and fainting.

If you stop your exercise abruptly, the blood can pool in your limbs. That reduces the blood sent to the brain. The result can be dizziness or fainting. Cool-down exercises prevent that and more. It slowly reduces circulation, removing lactic acid while helping the muscles relax. It can help prevent DOMS—delayed onset muscle soreness—that causes intense pain. Studies indicate that cool-down exercises after an intense workout reduce the potential for DOMS.

You’ll reduce pain and improve recovery when you do warm-up and cool-down exercises.

When you go from no activity to intense activity, your body requires an increased amount of oxygen or lactic acid builds. It takes a while for your body to increase the oxygen supply. When you have an increase of lactic acid in the blood, it changes the pH balance. Your body has to work harder. Often, it can cause you to quit sooner. Keeping your circulation slightly higher as you slow your heart rate maintains a slightly higher heart rate. That higher rate allows the body to remove lactic acid and diminishes pain.

• Dynamic stretches are best for warm-up exercises. Dynamic stretches include movements that you’ll do during your workout. Static stretches, such as toe-touching, are best for cool-down exercises.
• You can use the cool-down stretching time to increase your range of motion. The muscles are warmed and flexible. Doing static stretches that improve the range of motion at that time provides maximum benefit.
• Warm-up exercises do more than increase your heart rate and improve circulation. They improve your reaction time and focus. These exercises get the muscles to work together and increase coordination, making you more agile.
• When you do cool-down exercises, your mind remains focused on your workout or physical performance. It provides time to review your errors or find ways to improve by making changes.

For more information, contact us today at Revolution Training