Warm Up & Cool Down

How often do you walk into the gym and head right for a machine and get going on your workout? If you aren't doing this every time, you are only hurting yourself. And I have to be honest, I am definitely an offender and I know just how important stretching, warming up and cooling down are to your fitness gains so it makes me that much worse! So for those of you that may not be aware of the consequences, I hope after read this, you never skip those 5 minutes before and 5 minutes after your workout to stretch. 

The warm up gets your blood pumping and preps your muscles to be used. Doing this maximizes your workout and helps prevent injury. Cooling down allows your body to deplete waste products such as lactic acid generated during exercise, reduce the chances of blood pools occurring in the areas where blood supply has been concentrated on during exercise which may cause you to be light-headed, out of breath, weak and crampy, and reduce the amount of adrenaline in the blood to gradually reduce heart rate. Stretching also helps improve your flexibility. 

You should really join a flexibility class, such as yoga, hot yoga, pilates, or do your own flexibility work for 45-60 minutes at least once a week. 

The warm up and cool down are just as important as regular exercise. Ten minutes isn't too much to ask especially if you had time to donate 60 minutes to a full workout. Trust me, your body will thank you for those ten minutes and you'll be happy that you can keep moving! 

How long do you take to warm up and cool down?