Warming up, cooling down and stretching

A good warm- up before training or competing will enhance your performance and reduce the likelihood of injury. The physiological benefits include:

• Increased blood flow to the muscles
• Increased muscle temperature
• Increased joint mobility and flexibility making injury less likely
• Increased aerobic metabolism, meaning there is less reliance on anaerobic metabolism for energy production and therefore less lactic acid produced (too much lactic acid will bring you to a grinding halt!)
• Increased levels of oxygen taken from blood
• Improved neuromuscular function; nerves conduct impulses faster when the muscle is warmed up by at least 2 degrees C. Co-ordination is also improved.
• Better economy of movement
• Better maximum power output from muscle (increases with rise in temperature)

In short, your body will work more efficiently if you spend some time warming it up. Ideally, you should devote at least 15 minutes to warm-up, but it does depend heavily on what sort of sport you are involved in. Endurance athletes such as long distance runners, can, to a certain extent use the beginning of the run as a warm-up. Sprinters do not have that luxury and have to be thoroughly warmed up so that they can be sure of maximum power output from the word go.

Your warm-up should reflect the sport you do. There is no point spending half an hour warming up your legs if you are about to climb into a canoe and spend an hour using nothing but your upper body! It should also reflect your own personal fitness level. A world -class athlete might spend an hour warming-up; if you are going for a half hour jog then you might feel an hour’s warm up to be slightly excessive. Think about what your body needs and keep reviewing it as you progress in your given sport. A good warm-up routine should run on the following lines:

• General body warm-up; begin gently warming up your entire body and then gradually increase the intensity, focussing on the parts of the body you will be relying most heavily on; legs for running, upper body for throwing etc.
• Stretching should focus on your particular sport and the muscle groups you need; ask for advice about stretching if you are unsure. I advise stretching only once you are warmed-up and if you are pushed for time then do it at the end of your training session rather than before. The benefits from stretching after exercise are lasting whereas stretching cold muscle tissue can cause real damage.
• Rehearsal. This simply means practising the movements you will use during your event; it tunes the nervous system up and speeds up reactions.

Cooling down

Your body will recover much more quickly from exercise if you can make a smooth transition from exercise to rest; in other words, try to avoid coming to a grinding halt as soon as your event is over. Walk about for a little while so that your heart rate can gradually return to normal. Why?:

• The lactic acid produced in the muscles during exercise is disposed of much more effectively during gentle activity
• During exercise, the blood in your veins is helped in its movement by the contractions of your muscles and by your breathing. If you suddenly stop, a lot of blood is left in your arms and legs and your heart is put under unnecessary strain.

This is also the ideal time to do some flexibility work as the muscles and soft tissues are at their most pliable; you can get lasting benefit from stretching done now, so do some before you have completely cooled down.

And lastly, a quick plug for the benefits of regular massage which will keep your soft tissues healthy, flexible and well nourished, less likely to go “ping” and more likely to carry you to victory.

Judith Cooper is a Sports Massage Practitioner and a member of the Sports Massage Association (www.thesma.org) She has a clinic at John Honey Physiotherapy in Macclesfield. Phone 01625 500777 for an appointment or reach her on 07932 794420