You may not realize it, but an important area of physical conditioning (and long term health) is something rarely spoke of; that being the warm-up and cool-down. In the Marine Corps, any organized PT session almost always takes the time to preform a thorough warm up. When I first enlisted back in 1981 it was the “Daily 7”, 28 years later when I retired in 2009 it had grown to the “Daily 16”. These both take about 10 minutes, and at the end your warmed up, loose and unless you were hung over, ready to roll into some hardcore PT. To end the session we conducted a cool down and stretch. While that is the case for formal PT, I doubt that most people take as much time for a proper warm-up and cool-down when exercising on their own, and they should. The warm up increases blood flow to the muscles, thus increasing metabolism. Warmed muscles have an increased speed of contraction and both oxygen usage and nerve transmission are improved. A good warm-up also allows your heart rate to gradually rise to a workable rate.

The benefits of a cool down are also numerous; reduction of Delayed Onset of Muscle Soreness: “DOMS” (In other words genius you’ll be less sore tomorrow, if you do a good stretch out after you PT). A cool down helps reduce the level of adrenaline in your system (less chance you’ll get dizzy), and it gradually returns your heart rate to a resting level. But probably the best benefit to a good warm up and cool down is that it helps prevent injury. Warmed up muscles are much less likely to “Pull or Tear” and a good stretch after PT (while you’re still sweating) will help increase your range of motion, which is a proven method to help avoid injury. The point is that before you engage in any serious PT, (or sports) you need to warm up and cool-down properly. In my book Corps Strength I outline an effective warm-up and cool down. They are simple to learn and only take about 5 or so minutes to perform. in any case take the time to do both, it will pay off in the long run.

Good Luck
MGunz
corpsstrength.com

Tags: Corps Strength

This entry was posted on Monday, August 15th, 2011 at 16:23 and is filed under Corps Strength. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.