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Warmup and Cooldown are essential for workouts

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Warmup and Cooldown

Warmup and Cooldown

The warmup and cooldown are two important parts to a workout that most people don???t pay attention to yet both are essential to the quality of your workouts.

A proper warmup usually lasts 5 to 10 minutes and allows your muscles to get adequate blood flow to prepare for the workout ahead. By drawing blood to your muscles you give them a chance to lift more and move faster for a longer period of time. Your muscles also increase in temperature during the warmup which allows them to become more flexible and?? avoid injuries.

Ideally, you also want your warmup to include activities that will mimic the workout ahead except to a lighter intensity. This will help your body activate the mind/body connection that is key to success with your activity. This is especially important for sports where you need to perform at your optimal level from the start of the competition.

A proper cooldown includes a mild cardio workout which gradually reduces your heart rate and helps your body remove lactic acid (waste products created during your workout) from your muscles. This in turn helps your body recover more quickly which will make your next workout more effective. By doing this you achieve greater fitness results much quicker.

The second part of your cooldown should include static stretches that you hold for 30 seconds. This will help return your muscles to their normal lengthened state and reduce stiffness which further helps to prevent injuries.

About the Author: Alex K is an online Fitness Professional providing health and wellness to the world through his online workout program Cardio Blast. Members of www.Cardioblast.com receive new cardio workouts every week, full meal planning, fitness tracking and personal training included with their membership.

Warmups are key to a good workout

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Warmups are key to a good workout

Warmups are key to a good workout

One of the most important keys to a successful workout is a good warm-up. People often skip or cut their warm-up short, especially if they are in a hurry. However, here are some reasons why warmups are key to a good workout and why you need to make sure you plan it into your activities.

First of all, a proper warm-up will help reduce the risk of injury. During the warm-up there is increased blood flow to the muscles. This increased blood flow increases the temperature of the muscle along with its elasticity. By increasing the elasticity, the muscles are able to stretch further during your workout without becoming injured. Your warm-up should include what is called ???dynamic stretching???. This is where you do moving stretches that stretch the muscle out and then relax it. This is repeated over and over again until the muscle is able to achieve the length needed for the activity you are going to pursue without feeling excessive strain.

The second benefit of a good warm-up is that it reduces lactic acid buildup in the muscles. When you workout intensely you get waste products (lactic acid) that build up in your muscles and this reduces the intensity with which you can workout as well as causes soreness in the muscles. By gradually increasing the intensity of your workout through a proper warm-up, you delay the process of lactic acid buildup. The muscles are better able to effectively get rid of the lactic acid and this gives you a better workout.

If you are playing sports a proper warm-up also helps facilitate the mind-muscle connection. This helps your brain send the right messages to the right muscles in the fastest way possible. If you???ve ever tried to go play a sport and feel a little ???rusty??? when you start you???ll know what this means. Your hand eye coordination and balance just don???t seem right if you go straight into activity. Therefore, a proper warm-up that gets the mind-muscle link properly established will allow you to be ready to compete right from the start of your competition. This includes footwork drills where the feet are made to move over and around objects, balance drills that challenge both sides of the body and hand eye coordination drills for sports that involve the use of objects.

Plan a proper warm-up into your exercise routine and we guarantee you will notice better results immediately.

About the Author: Alex K is an online Fitness Professional providing health and wellness to the world through his online workout program Cardio Blast. Members of www.Cardioblast.com receive new cardio workouts every week, full meal planning, fitness tracking and personal training included with their membership.