Warm-Up and Cool-Down

Including warm-ups and cool-downs in an exercise program becomes especially crucial as people age, recover from injuries, engage in vigorous activities, and confront health problems such as heart disease. The warm-up is a short period of gentle activity before the exercise session that prepares the muscles, joints, and other systems for exercise, while the cool-down period helps one slow down after exercise. Just as you personalize your exercise program, so you can adjust the warm-up and cool-down to meet your personal needs and suit your activities.

If you are very stiff you may want to do some gentle rhythmic motion, starting with small movements and increasing the range of the movements as you loosen up. For example, before playing tennis you can warm up your shoulders with pendulum swings. Begin with your arms at your sides and gently start swinging them with small pendulum motions, gradually increasing the range of the swing. A common variation of this warm-up is to hold your arms out from your sides at shoulder height. Make small circles, again increasing the size of the circle with each rotation. You can do other variations, but the objective is always controlled movement with a slowly increasing range of motion.

After this simple warm-up activity, add a slight stretch for your shoulders by reaching toward the sky, bringing your hands together over your head, and bending slightly to each side. These easy motions decrease stiffness and increase the blood flow to your shoulders, preparing them for strenuous activity. To complete your warm-up, you should perform a similar routine using your trunk, hips, and legs. Tennis is a whole-body activity, so your whole body needs to be prepared. Finally, you can practice some shots, simulating the moves you will use in a game and integrating more total body motion.

After an injury, the muscle or joint is stiffer and needs a gentler activity before exercise. In general, your warm-up should be proportional to the activity you will be doing. The more intense the activity, the longer the warm-up. If you are planning a 20-minute walk at a moderate intensity, you may not need much in the way of warm-up. Before walking, you may just stretch your calf muscles and then start out slowly, gradually increasing your pace. The gradual start can serve as part of your warm-up. Before a round of tennis, on the other hand, you must take more time to prepare all of the joints and muscles that are involved in playing the game. To warm up for a vigorous activity, I suggest gentle loosening-up exercises along with some movements to get your heart rate up. In addition to stretching your shoulders, jog around the court and do some trunk, hip, and leg stretches. When you were in your teens or 20s you might not have needed much warm-up, but warm-up becomes more important as you age, or if you are not fit.

Proper warm-up and cool-down are vitally important to maintaining your body's flexibility and preventing injury.

The cool-down, like the warm-up, must suit the activity you are doing and is more important for people who are not fit or who are older. If the activity is strenuous, the cool-down should be longer even if you are fit. This cool-down period is an important time for your body to get rid of some of the metabolic by-products that have been produced in your muscles (such as lactic acid). It also allows your other body systems to come back toward resting levels. Both warming up and cooling down decrease the possibility that a serious problem, cardiac arrhythmia, will occur (McArdle, Katch, and Katch 2000).

While in graduate school, I learned the hard way that if I did not cool down properly, I would pay later. After a difficult race I immediately sat on the ground, doing nothing. A short time later, I needed help to get up and was stiff for several days. One cannot prevent all soreness and stiffness, but I firmly believe that a good warm-up and cool-down routine can reduce their severity. Cooling down is now a regular part of my routine and if I was stiff before I exercised, then I lengthen my cool-down. I incorporate my stretching program into the cool-down, which seems to decrease stiffness the following day (especially if I have done a hard workout).