Working out and exercise such as cardio, yoga, strength training and the like are excellent for overall physical and mental well-being. However, it is unfortunate that most people skip some of the most important aspects of a workout – the warmup and cool down. Gumtree explains why these are so pertinent and how to do them correctly:
Warming up
Warming up
- Warming up your body before a workout increases your body temperature gradually.
- It ensures the blood flows to the muscles and prepares them, especially the heart, for the workout ahead.
- A proper warmup can prevent the risk of injury.
- While warming up, first focus on the larger muscle groups and then move to the smaller ones with specific warmup exercises for each.
- The correct way to warmup is to begin at a slower pace and increase the speed gradually.
- It is essential to safely transition the body from workout mode to a resting state.
- A proper cool down helps in reducing the heart rate and overall body temperature.
- It can prevent blood pressure from dropping too rapidly and reduces injury risk.
- An effective cool down should last between five to ten minutes and include tapering off movements such as a slow jog or walk.
- Static stretches lasting 15 – 60 seconds are the correct way to cool down.
- As with the warmup, start with larger muscle groups and transition to small ones after.
- It is essential to breathe correctly during the cool down. You should be able to hold the static stretches without any pain or discomfort.
