Blog 4 – Warm Down and Cool Up
When I started writing this blog post, I thought it would be an interesting concept to write about warm-ups and cool-downs without an introduction and conclusion. But then I thought about how much I like each of you and wouldn’t put you through such a preposterous idea. Without such an introduction, there’s no hook, there’s no engagement. So here we are. BOOM. Introduction complete.
Now, taking that concept in to PDX Strength –working out without warming up and cooling down– would be just as preposterous. For those of you who have been in class for a long time, you know that we try to start every session with a question of the day (my FAVORITE thing), move through a warm-up together, work into some combination skill/strength/metcons, and then depending on time have some structured or suggested cool down (AKA wellness).
Even though we are at home and our routines are a little less structured, we can find success bringing this type of structure to our home workouts. Having an intentional warm up can be very helpful to break through the sluggishness we might feel right before we workout – yes, even if that takes up some of the already limited amount of time we have.
But where do you start? We can start by simplifying what we’re talking about. An appropriate warm-up should elevate the heart rate, drum up a little sweat, and make us breathe a little heavier. That’s the main goal every time. Start on a larger scale – run, jump, burpee – then move to a more targeted effort – squat, push-up. If we have limited time we could go out for a run around the block, or do something like “Roxanne” – play the song, burpee every time “Roxanne” is said.
For a cool down, we want to shoot for the opposite – slow the heart rate, body relaxes a bit, and we control our breath – a walk around the block, active stretches or yoga, intentional control of our breath. In a cool down, we will never get back to a resting state, but we can start the process.
Think about a warm up and a cool down as an introduction and a conclusion of a blog. It just makes for a better story… Conclusion.
Coach Dylan