Let’s talk warm ups and stretches. Usefully, for every site
on the internet that says they’re beneficially important you’ll also find
others claiming research that they’re not. Likewise, should you stretch then
warm up OR warm up then stretch? Both? Neither? What about afterwards? Professor
from X University says one thing while a research team from institute Y say the
opposite. So what to do?
I’m a firm believer that you should do both before and after
any exercise routine: Stretches, warm up, exercise, cool down, stretches. Why?
- Practicality. I
know that when I wake up first thing there’s no way my body’s breaking into a
long run straight off the bat.
- Stretching will help with your muscles flexibility and though some have
criticised whether this in turn actually prevents injury, I can’t imagine that
it’d hurt. Consider the absolute worst case scenarios for both: if you do them
and critics of stretching are right – it’ll just decrease your muscles force
output which means a small decrease in performance time. If you don’t do them
and pro-stretching advocates are right – you could tear a muscle which means a)
pain and b) you laid up for a period of time while it repairs. For the sake of
a few minutes of your time, there’s no harm in playing it safe and getting some
key stretches done.
- It’s generally agreed - Warm up activities do help performance times and prevent injuries
- Personal Experience.
You will slip, you will stumble and you will jar your body in your training
activities. Many a time I’ve tripped on a pot hole or misjudged a curb in my running
and am fairly sure if it wasn’t for the right prep work done before hand it
would have caused more injury.
- As you stretch and warm up it gets you focused on the task
ahead and mentally gets you into the
zone.
- As you cool down and stretch, you can reflect on your performance, slow your breathing and enjoy that
moment of calm accomplishment – another training session well done
A few things to consider:
A decent stretching and warm up session should take 10-15
minutes. Keep your warm ups and cool downs gentle – don’t push yourself too
hard or fast that’s what the main exercise is for. There are dynamic and static
stretches – I like to do both but personal preference comes in here. Different
types of exercise will mean you may need to focus on specific parts of your
body and particular types of stretches. The idea is to stretch the muscle so
that you can ‘feel’ it but if you start experiencing pain you’re taking it too
far and should stop.
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