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CHAPTER 5
WARMING UP AND COOLING DOWN—
The Two Key Critical Elements of Every Workout
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I learned about warming up and cooling down in a most peculiar way, and without even realizing it. During my first summer off from college, I worked at a small, local moving company. The owner, a big muscular former marine, would bring his small crew of three or four to a house to pack up the truck and order us to begin with the smallest items.
I found this rather odd—here we were bringing out the smallest and lightest boxes and other items. Gradually he had us bring out larger and heavier items. Toward the end, we began bringing smaller and lighter objects out to the truck again, so by the very end we were hardly carrying much at all, just like in the beginning. I believe this was what he had learned worked best, though perhaps didn’t know why nor analyzed it. I thought it was quite odd until later in my studies when I learned more about circulation, muscles, and the process of warming and cooling the body.
While in practice, whenever I would go to the track with athletes, we would see others come and go to do their workouts. We would slowly jog to warm up to our training pace, watching others do the traditional stretches on the ground, bouncing around for a bit, then get up and start running fast. Others would be stretching in the parking lot, using their cars as if trying to push them, to help stretch their tight calves and other muscle groups. When most of these athletes were done, they would stop their fast pace and hop back into their car. We were just starting our cool-down. What’s wrong with this picture? Plenty!
Make sure you properly warm up before working out; it will lessen the risk of injury.
The aerobic system can provide you with two vital components for all training. By preparing your brain and body for a workout, and by initiating the important first stage of recovery afterward, you can improve the quality of your workout, get more benefits, and reduce the risk of injury.
When the topic of warming up is mentioned, most people think of stretching. While stretching may be important for those who participate in certain sports like track and field, gymnastics, and ballet, it does not produce a true warm-up and cool-down. Stretching is much less significant a need for endurance athletes, and it can even be harmful. A physically active warm-up and cool-down is ideal for endurance athletes—they don’t require extremes in ranges of motion but significant improvements in flexibility.
