Ready to Run by Dr. Kelly Starrett and TJ Murphy, (11) Standard # 8: Warming Up and Cooling Down, Notes

Post date: Jul 2, 2017 12:52:56 PM

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Chapter 11. Standard # 8: Warming Up and Cooling Down

• • 1. Q: Do you routinely perform pre-run warmups and post run cool downs?

    2. Figure out a way to make warming up and cooling down a priority every time for every run.

    3. Key Motivation. A concentrated effort to perform a solid warm up and cool down before and after every run provides injury prevention and accelerated recovery benefits.

    4. Recommended Mobility exercises for Warm Ups and Cool Downs

       1. Air squats and jumping rope are potent exercises to warm up the joints and tissues.

       2. Use cool down time to work on mobility weaknesses or hit the reset button with these:

          1. Couch Stretch (p. 114)

          2. Hip Capsule Rotation (p. 237)

• • • • 1. Spending time in the deep squat

• • 1. Briefing. Passion and willingness to push through a workout should be extend from the warm up all the way to the cool down. Training is not about the workout alone. Training includes the preparation for a workout and how it is closed out. Think of athletes around the clock:

       1. How well are we hydrating throughout the day?

       2. Are we getting enough sleep?

       3. Are we sitting as little as possible and when we do sit, are we splicing in short spurts of mobility work to counter the effects.

       4. Are we making the time to do an appropriate warm up and cool down before and after every workout? To maximize the benefit of training and ratchet down injury risk factors, give the warm up and cool down periods their due diligence.

       5. From the viewpoint of evolution and biology, our bodies are engineered for long periods of walking and lots of moving around. Sitting brings muscle contractions to a halt, and contractions are what help clear congestion out of the system. Sitting shuts down the recovery mechanisms central to training adaptation. Both circulation and the lymphatic system are compromised.

       6. Ritualize the warm up and cool down routine to give the muscles, fascia, ligaments, cartilage and nerves the time and attention they deserve.

    2. Warming Up. Start with a few minutes of walking to get the blood flowing. Follow with dynamic non linear full body movements like arm circles, lunges and burpees. Take two minutes to mobilize any high priority joints or range of motion issues with a mobility exercise from part three of the book. Finally, do some quick jump rope work. Jumping rope:

• • • 1. Strengthens the feet.

      2. Wakes up the foot strike.

      3. Jumpstarts the heart and gets fluids moving.

      4. Heats up the precious soft tissues within the feet and around the ankle that extend into the calves.

• • 3. Cool Down. Turn the last ½ mile of a run into a walk. To maximize the benefits do some leg swings, arm swings, trunk rotations and the like. This alone is fantastic. Even better, add 5 minutes of mobility work with a lacrosse ball, roller or other mobility tool. Then spend much of the rest of the day as possible drinking fluids and being an athlete rather than sitting. If you do have to sit, get up and reset with the bracing sequence as often as possible and throw in the occasional mobility minute. Plan to take 10-15 minutes to cool down, 5 minutes is OK.

       2. 1. An easy 10-15 minutes on the rowing machine.

          2. An easy bike ride around the neighborhood.

          3. A walk, barefoot if possible.

          4. A selection of bodyweight movements like lunges, jumping jacks and arm and leg circles.

    4. Accordion. The amount of warming up and cooling down necessary needs to increase when the workout involves greater intensity. The shorter the event, the more speed and power are required, the more the warm up / cool down (30 - 45 Minutes) Plan for 20 minutes on either side of any hard aerobic effort.

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