Exercise 101: Importance of Warm-up and Cool-down and 5 Simple Routines
- Siddharth Veerapaneni
- Feb 8, 2023
- 7 min read
However much eager you are to start exercising, starting a workout with "cold" muscles can lead to injury. It's important to start your workout with a warm-up and end with a cool-down. Sure, a warmup and cool-down may add a few minutes to your exercise routine, but they might also reduce stress on your heart and other muscles.
"Warming up and cooling down are good for your exercise performance — you’ll do better, faster, stronger — and for your heart since the increased work on the heart ‘steps up’ with exercise,” said Richard Stein, M.D., professor of cardiology in the Department of Medicine at New York University and co-director of Cardiology Consult Services
Let's understand the importance of warming up before workout and cooling down post-workout and learn few simple routines for both.
Why Warm-up?
Warming up pumps nutrient-rich oxygenated blood to your muscles as it speeds up your heartrate and breathing. A five to ten minutes warm-up working on all major muscle groups can give your workout a good start. A good warm-up dilates your blood vessels, ensuring they are well supplied with oxygen and also raises their temperature for optimal flexibility and efficiency. It can also help reduce muscle soreness and your risk of injury. Focus on breathing and loosening up and keep your core tight.
"Warming up before any workout or sport is critical for preventing injury and prepping your body." – Dr. Johnny Lee, M.D., director of the Asian Heart Initiative at the New York University Langone Medical Center
Warm up right before you plan to start your workout. In general, warm up by focusing first on large muscle groups, such as your hamstrings. Then you can do exercises more specific to your sport or activity, if necessary. Warm up for 5 to 10 minutes. The more intense the activity, the longer the warm-up. Following are some of the popular warm-up routines. Perform them at an intensity level of 7 on a scale of 1-10 for 30 seconds each.
Warm-up Routine #1 - Walking or Jogging In Place
This routine involves walking or jogging without travelling. Wear comfortable shoes, lift your legs, and move your arms while performing this routine. You can also add a bit of resistance by holding a little weight while doing it.
How to do?
Lift your right arm and left foot at the same time. Raise your knee as high as your hips. Then switch to the opposite foot, quickly lifting your right foot to hip height. At the same time, move your right arm back and your left arm forward and up. Continue these movements for 30 seconds.
Warm-up Routine #1 - Walking or Jogging In Place
This routine involves walking or jogging without travelling. Wear comfortable shoes, lift your legs, and move your arms while performing this routine. You can also add a bit of resistance by holding a little weight while doing it.
How to do?
Lift your right arm and left foot at the same time. Raise your knee as high as your hips. Then switch to the opposite foot, quickly lifting your right foot to hip height. At the same time, move your right arm back and your left arm forward and up. Continue these movements for 30 seconds.
Warm-up Routine #2 - Jumping Jacks
Jumping Jacks are an effective total-body warm-up focusing on abdominal, shoulder, and leg muscles. Jumping Jacks get you to move your body out of its normal plane of motion. By taxing the muscles in these ways, movement can become more explosive, gaining more strength and agility for sports that require multidirectional movement.
How to do?
Take a nice wide stance and bring your arms all the way up and feet all the way out while moving the arms up and down.
Warm-up Routine #3 - Butt Kicks
Butt kicks are a type of plyometric, or jump training, exercise. These are powerful aerobic exercises that work your cardiovascular system and boost your muscle strength and endurance using only your own body weight as resistance. This explosive move works both your hamstring muscles and your glutes, and it can also be used as a dynamic stretch for your quads.
How to do?
Butt kicks are done by lifting one heel up toward your glutes, gently placing that foot back on the ground, and repeating the movement with your other leg. Maintain a running motion and stand on the balls of your feet while performing this routine. Keep your knee right under the hip when bringing the leg to the butt and keep the upper body relaxed.
Warm-up Routine #4 - Switch Kick with Arm Circles
Arm circles can work on toning the muscles in your shoulder and arm—biceps and triceps. They also work on your upper back muscles. Combining it with the switch kicks provides a full body warm-up.
How to do?
Kick the legs out and do circles with arms parallel with shoulders to warmup the shoulder sockets. Keep the quads tight and legs straight while doing this routine. This is a nice warmup for the calves and legs. Circling motion of the arms and shoulders warms up the upper body.
Warm-up Routine #5 - Walking High Knees
The high knees exercise is an especially good warm-up for speed training. It activates your quadriceps, hamstrings, calves, glutes, and hip flexors, helping improve muscular endurance, balance, and coordination in these muscles. It engages your core, warms up all the muscles in your legs, gets your heart rate up and improves momentum, coordination and flexibility.
How to do?
Stand tall with arms at your side and feet shoulder-width apart. Begin by raising one of your knees up toward your chest as high as you can. Bring that knee down while lifting the other knee. Keep alternating this until the end of the workout.
Why Cool-down?
The cool-down is just as critical as a warm-up. It keeps the blood flowing throughout the body. After physical activity, your heart is still beating faster than normal, your body temperature is higher and your blood vessels are dilated. Stopping exercise suddenly can cause light-headedness because your heart rate and blood pressure drop rapidly. Cooling down after your workout allows for a gradual recovery of pre-exercise heart rate and blood pressure. It may be most important for competitive endurance athletes, such as marathoners, as it helps regulate blood flow.
After intense exercise, lactic acid builds up within your system, and it takes time for your body to clear it out. Cooling down exercises (such as stretches) can aid this process of releasing and removing lactic acid, helping to speed up your body’s recovery post-workout. A study performed by California State University found that moderate intensity cycling after strength exercise helped to reduce Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness. Cooling down after exercise helps to alleviate excessive muscle soreness, keeping you more comfortable and allowing your body to bounce back before your next workout.
Cooling down is similar to warming up. You generally continue your workout session for five minutes or so, but at a slower pace and reduced intensity. Here are some examples of cool-down activities:
To cool down after a brisk walk, walk slowly for five to 10 minutes
To cool down after a run, walk briskly for five to 10 minutes
To cool down after swimming, swim laps leisurely for five to 10 minutes
Stretching
If stretching exercises are part of your workout routine, it's best to do them after the warm-up or cool-down phase, when your limbs, muscles, and joints are still warm. Stretching can improve flexibility and range of motion about a joint by relaxing and lengthening muscles. Stretching may also help improve your performance in some activities by allowing your joints to move through their full range of motion. It also makes many people feel better during and after exercise and in some people decreases muscle pain and stiffness.
"Stretching allows for greater range of motion and eases the stress on the joints and tendons, which could potentially prevent injury." – Dr. Johnny Lee, M.D., director of the Asian Heart Initiative at the New York University Langone Medical Center
Following are some of the popular stretch routines. Perform them for 30 seconds each. Each routine can be performed twice for a better stretch. Focus on breathing while stretching - i.e., inhale while holding the stretch and exhale as you stretch.
Stretching Routine #1 - Seated Hamstring Stretch
This routine focuses on hamstrings and the lower back. The hamstrings are the large muscles that run up the back of the thighs. They connect to the hip flexors, gluteal muscles, and calves. When the hamstrings are tight, it can lead to lower back and knee pain. Having flexible hamstrings is important for overall mobility when running.
How to do?
Sit on the ground with straight legs, and try reaching out to your feet with your arms and stay in that position. You should feel the stretch run through your back right through your hamstrings.
Stretching Routine #2 - Standing Quad Stretch
The quadriceps or “quads” are the muscles in the front of the thigh. Without proper stretching, activities such as running and biking can cause tight quads. When these muscles become tense and tight, they can lead to misalignment in the hips and back, which can result in pain.
How to do?
Stand straight with feet hip-width apart. Bend the right knee and bring that foot up behind the body toward the butt. Grab the knee with the right hand. Keep the right knee pointed toward the floor and gently push the hips forward slightly. Hold that position for 30 seconds and then switch legs.
Stretching Routine #3 - Behind-head Tricept Stretch
This routine focuses on the triceps and can be done sitting or standing.
How to do?
Extend the left arm upward, with the elbow close to the head. Bend the left elbow so that the left hand drops behind the neck. Using the right hand, hold the left upper arm behind the elbow and gently press down, pushing the left hand farther down the back. Hold the position for 30 seconds and repeat with the right arm.
Stretching Routine #4 - Shoulder Stretch
This is done across the chest. If you feel any pinching in the chest when doing this it is an indication that you need to stretch your chest.
How to do?
While standing, bring your right arm across the chest keeping it straight and hold it in that position with your left arm for 30 seconds and repeat with the left arm.
Stretching Routine #5 - Forward Lunge
Lunges help stretching the hip-flexor that goes right through the center of your body. The hip-flexor is essential to all movements.
How to do?
Stand upright and take a big step forward with the left leg and lower the hips, bending both legs to about 90 degrees while keeping the body upright. Hold the position for 30 second and switch legs. Lean back to feel the stretch.
If a stretch is painful, do not force the movement. Instead, stop and rest to avoid the risk of a sprain or strain. It is important to keep good posture during each stretch.
How to Incorporate Warm-up and Cool-down Into Your Workouts?
Warmups and cool-downs generally involve doing your activity at a slower pace and reduced intensity. The above routines are not meant to be a comprehensive list. Also, they can be tailored to specific workouts focusing on the corresponding muscle groups..
If you have any questions on which warmup and stretch routines to use for your workout schedule or how to perform specific routines, Contact Me. I also love to hear any feedback you may have on this post through comments below
Comments