Workout Basics: Warm-Ups & Cool-Downs
February 3, 2021
By Nick Parkinson, M.Ed., AT, ATC, TSAC-F
Henry Ford Health Systems
You may know a good warm-up — and cool-down — are essential to getting a good workout. You may also know that warming up your muscles and stretching them out after exercise can help prevent injury and keep you at the top of your game.
They’re the two bookends that help maximize a workout. Unfortunately, a lot of exercise enthusiasts don’t know how to warm up and cool down correctly.
Warm-Up Basics
A warm-up is exactly what it sounds like: The goal is to warm up your muscles and prepare your body for whatever you’re asking it to do. Warming up increases your body temperature and helps blood flow to the muscles that you’re using.
So if you’re going to play soccer, your warm-up should touch all of the muscles in your legs and core. Shooting hoops? You’ll need to add shoulders and arms to your routine. Circuit training at the gym? Choose a warm-up that flexes all of the muscles you’re about to use.
The thing that all warm-ups have in common is that they require dynamic (or constantly moving) motion, not static stretching (holding poses for a certain amount of time). In fact, static stretching prior to a workout can inhibit power and strength, especially if you’re doing something like weightlifting.
The anatomy of a solid warm-up:
• Before any activity, do about 10 minutes of light cardiovascular activity, whether walking, biking or jogging.
• Dynamic stretches. After you get your muscles moving, do a series of lunges, jumping jacks or toe touches to stretch a bit.
• Dive in. When you start your workout, begin slowly and gradually increase power and speed.
Cool-Down Basics
After you’ve put your body through a challenge, a good cool-down is essential. It helps slow down your heart rate gradually, relax your muscles and stretch them out.
Cool-down routines should always include some type of motion before you get to static stretching, especially if you’ve just finished a high-intensity workout. Static stretching improves flexibility and performance and it can also help stave off future injury.
As with warm-ups, the right cool-down exercises depend on the activity you engaged in. If you biked for 20 miles, you might coast on your cycle for a while before coming to a stop. If you ran, you might jog or walk before you begin stretching. As with your warm-up, the key is addressing every muscle group you worked during your workout.
The anatomy of a solid cool-down:
• At the end of your workout, slow the pace and intensity of whatever activity you’re doing. So, if you’re running, slow to a jog and then a walk for 5 to 10 minutes before stopping.
• Stretch out the muscles you work, but don’t push past the point where you feel tight. Then, hold the position for at least 30 seconds. That’s how long it takes for the body to overcome its stretch reflex.
• Breathe through your stretches and make sure to finish your cool-down with deep, belly breaths.
Running short on time? Target muscle groups you may have injured in the past or that tend to get sore after activity. Cooling down will preserve your athleticism — and your ability to participate in daily activities — over the long term.
Be Good to Your Body
While there’s some controversy about whether warming up and cooling down can help prevent injury, there’s little dispute that they can help you ease in and out of activity.
The key is to find something that works for you. Your warm-up could be as simple as walking to the gym and doing a set of jumping jacks when you arrive. Your cool-down might just involve ending your workout 10 minutes early so you can slow down.
It doesn’t have to be complicated. It just has to give your heart and blood vessels a chance to breathe before and after activity.
Nick Parkinson, M.Ed., AT, ATC, TSAC-F, is the Supervisor of Athletic Training with Henry Ford Sports Medicine and also leads Sports Performance training at the William Clay Ford Center for Athletic Medicine. Learn more about Nick.
Want to learn more? Henry Ford Health System sports medicine experts are treating the whole athlete, in a whole new way. From nutrition to neurology, and from injury prevention to treatment of sports-related conditions, they can give your athlete a unique game plan.
Visit henryford.com/sports or call (313) 972-4216.
Century of School Sports: Michigan Sends 10 to National Hall of Fame
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
October 1, 2024
The campaign to promote Michigan’s all-time high school greats for National High School Hall of Fame recognition is advancing full-speed ahead.
Just this summer, past Dearborn Heights Robichaud three-sport star Tyrone Wheatley became the Hall of Fame’s 10th inductee from Michigan. With his addition, Michigan’s collection still ranks only 22nd nationally in terms of number of honorees – but his selection makes three over the last nine years as the MHSAA continues to make cases for more recognition from our state’s rich history.
Michigan’s contribution to the Hall of Fame includes five athletes, three coaches and two retired MHSAA executive directors who also had colossal impacts on school sports at the national level. Wheatley joined the MHSAA’s first full-time Executive Director Charles E. Forsythe (inducted 1983), River Rouge boys basketball coach Lofton Greene (1986), Warren Regina athletic director, softball and basketball coach Diane Laffey (2000); Fennville basketball and baseball standout Richie Jordan (2001), Grosse Pointe Woods University Liggett boys and girls tennis coach Bob Wood (2005), Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook hockey standout Jim Johnson (2007), Owosso football, basketball and baseball all-stater Brad Van Pelt (2011); Vermontville Maple Valley baseball national record holder Ken Beardslee (2016) and retired MHSAA Executive Director John E. “Jack” Roberts (2022).
In addition to his selection and induction this summer, Wheatley was selected to speak on behalf of the entire 2024 Hall of Fame class during the ceremony in Boston.
The National High School Hall of Fame was started in 1982 by the NFHS. Nominations are made through NFHS member associations, including the MHSAA. Hall of Fame inductees are chosen after a two-level selection process involving a screening committee composed of active high school state association administrators, coaches and officials, and a final selection committee composed of coaches, former athletes, state association officials, media representatives and educational leaders.
Of course, not everyone nominated is eventually selected. Candidates receive a three-year period of consideration, and the MHSAA unsuccessfully campaigned for a nominee as recently as 2017-19, although multiple times that candidate reached the second level of the selection process.
Criteria also must be followed; the MHSAA (like all state associations) is limited to one athletic inductee per year, and the NFHS requires inductees to attend the annual summer ceremony unless, of course, they are deceased.
Obviously, there are several Michigan standouts absent from the list above. But as noted, the work has ramped up to bring their accomplishments to the Hall of Fame stage.
Previous "Century of School Sports" Spotlights
Sept. 25: MHSAA Record Books Filled with 1000s of Achievements - Read
Sept. 18: Why Does the MHSAA Have These Rules? - Read
Sept. 10: Special Medals, Patches to Commemorate Special Year - Read
Sept. 4: Fall to Finish with 50th Football Championships - Read
Aug. 28: Let the Celebration Begin - Read
PHOTOS Clockwise from top left: Bob Wood, Lofton Greene (in suit) with his 1965 team, Diane Laffey, Charles E. Forsythe, Jim Johnson, Brad Van Pelt, Richie Jordan (shooting the basketball), Ken Beardslee, and Jack Roberts, surrounding Tyrone Wheatley (Robichaud) during a race. (MHSAA archives.)