Warming up/Stretching/Cooling down

Ashley's picture
Posted October 11th, 2008 by Ashley

So, what is the best type of stretching to do before cardio workouts and weight training? Is it okey to do a few minutes of the treadmil before doing a weight workout? Whats the deal?

Thanks again!

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/Agreed.

Stevers's picture
On October 14th, 2008 Stevers says:

Will hit the nail on the head. Warmup is huge! Not only do you reduce risk of injury, but you are able to workout harder and push heavier weight when you're entire body is warmed up. Remember, just because you're doing an exercise that targets a certain muscle group, that doesnt mean that no other muscle groups are involved.

Squat is a great example: You squat primarily for your legs, but your entire body, especially your CORE and your lower Back, play HUGE roles in the Squat, and if you're not properly warmed up, you wont lift nearly as heavy of a weight, and you will probably hurt your lower back because it wasnt able to support the weight (it wasnt ready).

"Obsession is a term the lazy use to describe the dedicated" - Anon.
"Shoot for the stars, you might just reach the sky" - Unknown

Start off with 10 minutes of

will_i_am's picture
On October 12th, 2008 will_i_am says:

Start off with 10 minutes of warming up on some type of cardiovascular/respiratory equipment, like the elliptical or treadmill.
Start of slowly and build up your heart rate. Then once you FEEL warmed up, you can stop, so between 5-10 minutes.
The key is start slow and "warmup", if you do it like that, you'll take about 5-10 minutes. Make sense?

Then start with some dynamic stretching for your muscles. So important. Not static or "stand still" stretches, which is really what we think of when we say "stretching", but you want more dynamism, or movements into the "stretches".
Such as,

Glute Bridge
Balance Ball Leg Curl
Balance Ball Back/Shoulder Stretch
T-hip rocking

all these vidoes are in the jamcore beginner workout.

FOr cool down, do 5-10 minutes of cooldown. Its really really important. Because it helps prevent venous pooling, which is when all the blood you had gorging your muscles just pools into those areas and doesnt get flushed out, which means waste doesnt get flushed out either, not good!
So do a light cool down, then do some static stretching to help loosen up your muscles even more, and push more waste out by keeping the circulation going, which will be really great for when you're ready to drink your shake postworkout.

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