What is the best way to warm up and cool down?
Please remember the advice we give is general and not meant to be used as a substitute for professional medical or health advice, diagnosis, or treatment. If you want specific advice then please seek help from your doctor or local physio.
What does an effective warm up look like?
An adequate warm up leaves you feeling ready to exercise, increases your performance during exercise and may reduce your risk of injury. Effective warm-ups include two important components:
- General Activity
- Specific Preparation
General Activity consists of a few minutes any low intensity exercise that serves to increase body temperature and heart rate.
Specific Preparation involves replicating the specific movements or exercises that you are going to be performing during the session, or at least similar movements. For example, if you are going to be doing loaded squats in the workout, you might do bodyweight squats to better prepare the muscles, joints and coordination required for that task.
Often, it's appropriate to combine these two components of the warm-up, so that the specific preparation and the general activity are accomplished simultaneously. This is what we typically do in our Be Mobile Online workout warm-ups.
The warm-up should be kept succinct - only a few minutes, and once it's finished you should feel ready to immediately commence the higher intensity exercise of the session.
Note that neither component includes stretching or foam rolling as these don’t reliably provide any benefit and takes away from time that could be spent exercising.
What should a cool down look like?
Cool-downs have traditionally been a staple of many exercise programs. However, the benefits are not really supported by the scientific evidence. Often thought to reduce injuries, prevent post exercise muscle soreness and stiffness, and reduce fatigue post exercise, the evidence has shown cool-downs to be largely ineffective for any of these goals.
Based on the lack of evidence, we don’t prescribe cool-downs following workouts.
The body does good job of returning to its normal resting state on its own without performing a specific cool-down. We would much rather you spend that time on more resistance, cardiovascular or balance training that have proven health and fitness benefits!
If you enjoy performing some type of cool-down activity following exercise, then of course it's ok to continue doing so. Just know, that it's not absolutely necessary.