Monday Workout

Monday Workout

When you workout make sure you do a proper warm up and cool down.  That way you prevent injury.

The benefits of a warm up are

 

Increase Muscle Temperature:  A warmed muscle will both contracts more forcefully and relaxes more quickly. This will help so that speed and strength can be enhanced. Warming up muscles will help prevent the probability of overstretching a muscle and causing injury is far less.

Increased Body Temperature: by increasing body temperature muscle elasticity improves, which also reducing the risk of strains and pulls.

Blood Vessels Dilate: dilating blood vessels reduces the resistance to blood flow and lowers stress on the heart.

Improve Cooling: By actively sweating an individual can cool efficiently and help prevent overheating.

Increased Blood Temperature:  The temperature of blood increases as it travels through the muscles. As blood temperature rises, the binding of oxygen to hemoglobin weakens so oxygen is more readily available to working muscles, which may improve endurance.

Improves Range of motion:  range of motion increases around a joint that is warm.

Mental Preparation: The warm-up is also a good time to mentally prepare for an event by clearing the mind, increasing focus, reviewing skills and strategy. Positive imagery can also relax an individual and build concentration for an event or race.

The benefits of a cool down are


aids in the dissipation of waste products - including lactic acid build up
reduce the potential for muscle soreness and stiffness
reduce the chances of dizziness or fainting caused by the pooling of venous blood at the extremities
reduce the level of adrenaline in the blood
allows the heart rate slow down and return to its resting rate



References

http://sportsmedicine.about.com/cs/injuryprevention/a/aa071001a.htm
http://www.brianmac.co.uk/warmup.htm
http://www.sparkpeople.com/resource/fitness_articles.asp?id=1036
http://www.exercise4weightloss.com/benefits-of-cooling-down.html