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Hamilton Personal Trainers Tell you…Warm Up & Cool Down

By murray | July 27, 2009

WARM UP:  The purpose of the warm up is to increase body temperature, increase synovial (lubricating) fluids in the joints, and to decrease the chance of injury. In addition, muscle and tendon elasticity are also improved during the cimg06063warm up. The warm up should include easy to moderately intense cardiovascular activity for 3 to 15 minutes (eg: walking, cycling or stepping) and a flexibility exercise for each muscle group to be trained that day. During the warm up, heart rate should gradually rise to approximately 50 to 60 % of maximum heart rate.
At the onset of light cardiovascular exercise during the warm up, the metabolic rate increases, so body temperature rises, which causes you to sweat. In addition, blood flow to the exercising muscles increases and the muscles extract more oxygen from the blood. This results in more efficient energy production in the muscle.l
As the warm up continues and heart rate is gradually increased, the body begins the process of fat cell mobilization. Depending on your body’s efficiency at burning calories, it can take 12 to 15 minutes or more of continuous, moderately intense cardiovascular exercise before your body begins to burn fat.

COOL DOWN:  The cool down period after your workout is equally as important as the warm up.  Basically, the cool down contains the same  components as the warm up, only in reverse:  begin the cool down with some stretching (this part is even more important if you did not stretch during the warm up – every workout should include some stretching), followed by some light  cardiovascular exercise (again, walking, cycling or stepping).  The cool down is an excellent time to begin replenishing your body’s fluids:  drink lots of water!

THE COOL DOWN PERIOD AFTER YOUR WORKOUT IS EQUALLY IMPORTANT AS THE WARM UP…. REMEMBER TO DRINK LOTS OF WATER!!!!

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