Fitday!!

Its Friday!!!!

The best day of the week! It is also the day I bring you a little advice that I have learned from the fitness industry.

Today's topic: The importance of a good warm up and stretch as well as a good cool down and stretch.

An improper warm up and cool down is detrimental to a workout and to your body. Exercising with cold muscles is asking for an injury.

So many times I watch people walk into the gym, hop on the treadmill and just start jogging away.
This should be labeled "What NOT to do at the Gym, Rule #1"

Your body has three different energy systems that it pulls from, only one of which is an aerobic system. The other two are anaerobic (do not use oxygen to function) and they use immediate fuel available in your cells and tissues before the aerobic breathing energy system kicks in. (This is why body builders or those wanting short high intensity bursts of energy, sprinters, will take a creatine supplement. Another post for another day.) It takes your body at least 5 minutes for the aerobic systems to fully kick in for a good solid workout.

The importance of a warm up is to get these energy systems moving so that your muscles become warm, and flexible reducing the chance of a muscle strain or injury.

A good warm up should be at least five minutes and then a good stretch for another two to four minutes. You should warm up before beginning any workout, even a weight lifting workout. Your warm up should target the muscle area you will engage. I would recommend runners or those wanting to work the legs, start with a fast walk at a higher incline on the treadmill. For those who are weight lifting, the treadmill or even the elliptical is a good way to warm up the body. If you want to warm up your arms before an arm routine I would recommend the rowing machine. (If your gym has one.) This is a good way to target the arms and abs while still engaging the aerobic system. No rowing machine? That's okay. A walk on the treadmill followed by some jumping jacks and a few pushups will do the trick

A good cool down is just as important. Especially for those leg muscles. Cooling down allows the muscles time to work the lactic acid out of the muscle tissue to be absorbed into the blood. This 'cleaning up' of lactic acid makes recovery of the muscle tissue easier and leaves you feeling less sore the next day. Stretching is important at the end of a workout because this is when muscle are most flexible. Pushing them through a good stretch will make them even more flexible over time and helps to stimulate blood flow which also helps in recovery.

Hope these tips help you!! This was one of the most important things I've learned so far in my training process.
Light and love,