Respect your Recovery
Respect your recovery if you want to stay healthy in the gym or in sports for many years to come.
Think about this?
How many people do you see come in the gym and just get to it? They start working out right away with little to no warm up. Then they complete their workout and they leave the gym. No stretching, no foam rolling, no gradual heart rate increase before the workout and decrease after the workout.
In this blog I’m going to cover the proper way to warm up, and cool down and how to maximize your recovery to keep your body feeling healthy and happy!
Proper warm up – A warm up should consist of 5-10 minutes of aerobic activity specific to the muscles groups you are about to workout.
Example – If you are training legs choose the step mill, bike, incline treadmill. or elliptical for your warm up. If you are training upper body or abs choose the rowing machine, elliptical with arms, Jacob’s ladder, or rope pull-down machine.
The idea is to warm up the muscles you will be using during the workout and to gradually increase your heart rate.
After you complete the 5-10 minute warm up head over to the foam roller to get the muscles primed for the workout. Again target muscle groups that you are intending on working to take out some of the knots that apparent in the soft tissue. Also use of the TIGER Tail is recommended during this time. This should take another 5 minutes or so.
Total warm up time is 10-15 minutes.
During the real workout make sure with each exercise you start with the lightest weight you are going to use and work up in weight. This is especially important if you are very strong and your working sets are extremely heavy.
Cool down 5-10 minutes post workout.
Stretch and foam roll all the muscles you worked during the workout and then end with a 5 minute easy walk or ride on the treadmill and bike to bring the heart rate back down.
Now this is a quick tutorial on warm up and cool down and it can certainly get way more specific than this, but I would recommend starting with this to give your body the opportunity to stay limber, mobile, and free of aches and pains.
Additional things Formal Fitness Training recommends.
Monthly Massage – Nothing beats working out some of the adhesions at a deeper level. Monthly may not be enough in the beginning depending on how tight you are. If you are looking for a recommendation we have a few great massageplaces to recommend.
Contrast Shower – Start with 10 seconds but use cold water during your shower and alternate that with warm water for a few rounds every time you take a shower. This will further help with recovery.
Stay hydrated – It’s hard to tell if you’re having joint pain or if you are just dehydrated. For women .5-1 gallon per day, for men 1 – 1.25 gallons a day. If you have to question whether you are dehydrated, you probably are!
Always start slow when beginning a new program and use your brain! If you are working out 2 days per week, don’t just jump into a 6 day per week program. Chances are you will get hurt and set yourself back.
Remember getting in shape is a marathon and not a sprint. Those who you see who are in great shape generally have spent years achieving that body, or have supreme genetics. Fat doesn’t come on over night and neither does muscle. Respect your warm up, cool down, and recovery and stay on the path to health, wealth, and happiness!
Formal Fitness Training has your back, if you have questions you know where to find us!
Onward and upward!
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Michael Hartman
My mission is to give personal training participants a safe and effective workout designed specifically for their goals. Dealing with many sports injuries over the years taught me how to come back stronger every time. The competition is with yourself... Strive to bring out your best self and get better every day!
