WARMING UP & COOLING DOWN

When doing physical activity, our bodies suffer a series of physiological changes, like increasing our heart rate, sending more blood to our muscles, increasing our respiratory rate to bring more oxygen to our cells, etc. Therefore, it is important to prepare the body for those changes doing a proper warm up, helping our muscles, joints, lungs and heart to transition from a resting state to physical activity. 

In the same way, when we finish doing physical activity, it's crucial that we also help our body to transition from physical activity to a resting state, bringing our heart and respiratory rate back to normal, reducing the stiffness in our muscles and enhancing recovery. For that purpose we should never forget to do a proper cool down. 

In this article we're going to help you understand the importance of both the warm up and the cool down, and give you tips to plan your own and incorporate this healthy habits into your physical activity for a longer and healthier active lifestyle. 

WARM UP

The warm up is a group of preparatory exercises that gradually increase in intensity, performed before a workout, a PE session or any intense physical activity.

-        WHY DO WE DO IT?

Warming up has mainly four functions:

1. Get ready physically

When you start moving, you need more energy, and you get that by using more oxygen and nutrients for your muscles to work. Therefore, you need to breathe faster to get that extra oxygen, your heart rate goes faster as well, to supply that oxygen and nutrients to your muscles, and that makes the general temperature of your body increase. When the body temperature is higher, muscle contractions work better, the joints loosen up, meaning they also move better, and that results in less possibilities to suffer from an injury. 

2. Get ready mentally

Warming up before a game or a competition has also mental benefits. It helps to focus, to prepare mentally to the main activity we’re going to do right after. In a competition context, it helps to review your game plan, to stay focused and make sure that all your attention is going to performing as best as possible. In a school context, warming up is great to change your attention from the subject you had before Physical Education, and start focusing in your body movements, getting mentally ready for a PE session, no matter what the content is. 

3. Prevent injuries

Many injuries can be easily prevented just by doing a proper warm up. As we explained before, increasing your heart rate, your respiratory rate, moving all your joints and activating your muscles makes your body temperature warmer, and that results in a lower risk of injury. If we start doing physical activity without warming up, the chances to tear a muscle or dislocate a joint are much higher. 

4. Improve performance

This is very easy to explain. When our body temperature is warmer, our muscles work better. When we move and activate our muscles and joints, they perform better. When our attention is fully dedicated to our body movements, we will be more precise. Then, it’s easy to explain that doing a proper and complete warm up improves drastically our performance in whatever type of physical activity that is coming right after. 

-        WHAT SHOULD IT INCLUDE?

A good warm up should take around 10-20 minutes, and is divided into two parts:

1.     GENERAL WARM UP (around 5-10 minutes)

This is the first part of the warm up. It has the purpose of activating the whole body (increasing our heart rate, breathing and body temperature).

It should include:

-       Activation movements, to start increasing the blood flow, with low intensity movements involving the whole body.

-       Joint mobility exercises, to make sure our joints get ready to move through their full range of motion.

-       Dynamic stretching exercises: to ensure the muscles are also ready for intense and constant contractions and stretches.

2.     SPECIFIC WARM UP (around 5-10 minutes)

This is the second part of the warm up. It has the purpose of activating the key muscles and joints that are going to be used during the sport or physical activity we are preparing for.
It should include:

• Specific movements and exercises that are used in the sport.
• Higher intensity exercises than in the general warm up, getting closer to the competition intensity levels. 

The specific warm up depends on the activity or sports we are going to do. For example, if we are going to play a basketball game, we should include:

• Dribbling, lay-ups practice

• Shooting practice

• Various jumping exercises

• Lateral intense change of directions, etc.

-        10 TIPS FOR A GOOD WARM UP

1.     Follow a natural progression (first low intensity and easy exercises and later more complicated and intense exercises)

2.     Start warming up the weaker parts, especially if you are recovering from an injury.

3.     Combine activation exercises with joint mobility and dynamic stretching, avoiding pauses in the warm up.

4.     Include technical gestures from the sport you are going to play.

5.     Don’t make it too soft so your muscles and joints don’t warm up enough, but also don’t make it so intense that you start the main activity very tired.

6.     For a school class, a 5-10 minute warm up should be enough. For competition, minimum of 15-20 minutes will be needed.

7.     If it’s cold outside, make sure you give it a bit more time so you warm up properly.

8.     The start of sweating (or 120 bpm) is usually a good indicator of the right intensity for a warm up.

9.     Use varied movements and exercises to avoid getting bored.

10.  If possible, include games to make it more fun.

COOL DOWN

The cool down is the period of low-impact, slower activities performed after a work out, a physical activity class or any other intense physical activity. 

-        WHY DO WE DO IT?

The cool down has mainly three functions: 

• Bring your body back to normal

After doing physical activity,  your heart is still beating much faster than normal, your body temperature is higher, your breathing is still agitated and your blood vessels are dilated. This means that if you stop too fast, you could feel light headed, feel sick or even pass out. Just like with the warm up, your body needs to gradually transition to a resting state, and doing a proper cool down will help with that. 

• Speed up recovery

Right after a work out, our muscles and joints are still warm, our muscles feel tight from the constant contractions happening during the physical activity, and there is an accumulation of metabolic waste in our bodies from the chemical processes that happen to produce all the energy we need for physical activity. Cool down activities such as low-impact and reduced intensity exercises combined with stretching help reducing the soreness, the stiffness and the accumulation of lactic acid, helping to enhance recovery and minimize DOMS (delayed onset muscle soreness). 

• Reflect on the activity

Cooling down will give us a time to think and reflect on what we've just done, whether it's a sports match, a morning run or a physical education class, it will give us some time to think about it, appreciate the effort we've made, and prepare mentally for what's next in our day. 

 

-        WHAT SHOULD IT INCLUDE?

The cool down typically takes from 5 to 15 minutes, and it consist mainly on two parts: 

• Low-impact, slow movements

When finishing the main activity, don't stop suddenly, keep walking while making circles with your arms, taking long deep breaths, allowing the body to reduce heart rate and breathing frequency. Low intensity cycling is a very good activity for a cool down, helping to eliminate the accumulation of metabolic waste from our blood and muscles. 

• Stretching

Unlike with the warm up, where we perform mainly dynamic stretches, during the cool down we're going to include a series of static stretches to help our muscles to go back to their normal resting state, reducing the stiffness and soreness that happens during exercise. For that purpose, we will stretch our muscles, focusing on the ones that were more involved in our workout, holding each stretch for 10 to 30 seconds, taking long deep breaths while stretching. 

-        10 TIPS FOR A GOOD COOL DOWN

1. Right after finishing, continue doing the same activity you were doing but with less intensity. If you were doing a running-based activity, walk or do a light jog. If you were swimming, continue doing a less intense swim. If you were biking, keep rolling with a soft resistance. As a general rule, keep moving with slow low-impact movements. 
2. Move your arms making circles to stretch the respiratory muscles and improve airflow and circulation. 
3. Once your heart rate has reduced to around 120 bpm, keep relaxing while doing some static stretches. 
4. Try to make long deep breaths during the cool down, inhaling through your nose and exhaling through your mouth. A yoga-style savasana routine to finish the cool down will help creating that sense of relaxation and well-being after a good workout. 
5. When stretching, breathe out as you stretch the muscle. 
6. Make sure the stretch is strong enough, but be careful not to stretch your muscles to a point where it hurts.
7. Choose safe stretches, where your back keeps its neutral position. 
8. If you suffer from some kind of injury, or have some areas particularly sore after the exercise, use an ice pack to cool down that area and avoid inflammation. 
9. Take a moment to reflect on the effort you've made and let that feeling of realization fulfill your body. 
10. When finishing the activity, have a shower (cold shower would be better), change clothes and make sure to rehydrate properly. 

REFERENCES: 

• Behm DG, Chaouachi A. A review of the acute effects of static and dynamic stretching on performance. Eur J Appl Physiol. 2011 Nov;111(11):2633-51. doi: 10.1007/s00421-011-1879-2. Epub 2011 Mar 4. PMID: 21373870.
• Böttcher, K.-H. (2000). Warm up, cool down. Klett Sprachen.
• Cordier, A. (2018, February 9). 5 reasons why warm up exercises are important. Fit Athletic San Diego Best Gym. 
• Frey, M. (2015, October 7). The benefits of a cool down after exercise. Verywell Fit.