Research Based Tips & Tricks
Warming up
Warming up before participating in exercise is essential in preparing mentally and physically for your chosen activity. The goal of warming up is to increase heart rate, which will lead to increased blood flow to your muscles. Increased blood flow to the muscles will enable a higher level of oxygen to reach them, which is vital in exercise. Benefits to your range of motion, overall movement, and reductions to injury can be seen with a good 10 minute warm up before engaging in a higher intensity level workout. Remember, warming up should include the idea of gradually increasing your heart rate to get your body prepared for the workout. (NHSINFORM)
example warm up exercises
Dynamic Stretching
Fast Paced Walking/Jogging
Walking Up & Down Stairs
Jumping Jacks
Lunges
Squats
Side Shuffles
Arm Swings/Circles
(NHSINFORM)
Cooling Down
Cooling down after an intense workout is vital for allowing your mind and body to come down from the previous workout. Cooling down is like warming up but flipped. Instead of gradually increasing heart rate and blood flow, the goal is to gradually decrease heart rate and blood flow. This is important because you need a gradual recovery of heart rate as well as blood pressure to ensure the recovery of your muscles. Properly regulating blood flow is something that most athletes don't consider too often, but can help immensely in training your body to the point where you want it to be. (MAYOCLINIC.ORG)
After swimming - take leisure laps
After running - brisk walk
After brisk walk - walk slowly
After lift - foam rolling
After any exercise - stretching
Should be 5-10 minutes
(MAYOCLINIC.ORG/AI)