Warming up and cooling down

When it comes to warming up and warming down, we would approach it in three ways:

1 Strength or activation work for certain muscles

2 Stretch work for certain muscles

3 release work for certain muscles

The combination of these three areas would be activity dependent and based on what the movement demands.  This concept would be mirrored by the warm down, i.e. dependent on what you have worked. 

Here is a model we call our PER diagram to help with your thinking. As you can see, it lays out that you can use what we call our 123 Approach, as described above, before and after exercise to prepare your body for movement and to help your body with recovery from movement. Note that the numbers in this diagram are in different positions on both triangles. This indicates that we can use all three options (strength, stretch and release) or any combination of the three, depending on your chosen activity’s conditioning needs, for recovery and in preparation for exercise. 

This model is not limited to cardiovascular activities, such as running, cycling, and swimming.  It can also be used to support your everyday movements.  Remember that your body has numerous muscles that work together to create movement. I our book we outline details of how to use our 123 Approach in relation to sit to stand, walking, and reaching and rotating.  We chose these movements as we feel that they cover most of the common movements that we go through each day. In focusing on these basic movements when considering an exercise programme to keep your body in good working order, we feel these will help you to keep limber, supple and relaxed!

Let us know what your approach to warmups and cool downs are.  We would love to hear from you!