Warm down a vital aspect of exercise
WARMING down after exercise is just as important as warming up.
Cairns Total Physio physiotherapist Tim Lowcock said that a fast transition from high intensity activity to normal everyday activity could be detrimental to the body.
“Your muscles are working quite hard so there’s a lot of blood flow going to those areas and so the blood sitting in there isn’t ideal after activity,” Mr Lowcock said.
During exercise, a person is using their muscles quite heavily which results in an element of tissue breakdown.
“That’s when you get a release of lactic acid,” Mr Lowcock said.
“When that then gets released into the blood you don’t want that sitting in the tissue for any length of time.”
It could be toxic to healthy tissue, which is why Mr Lowcock said it should be removed as fast as possible.
Warming up was the complete opposite, he said.
“You’re trying to increase the blood flow to the muscles to get them ready for activity,” Mr Lowcock said.
The idea was to prime the neural system so it was working at its maximum and most aware.
“First you’re increasing blood flow and neural activity and muscle activations ... and then you’re trying to decrease that blood flow, clear the blood out of the lower limbs or the limbs that you’ve been using,” Mr Lowcock said.
When it came to warming up, Mr Lowcock, who works with the Northern Pride, said it should involve more dynamic movements that built in intensity.
For a warm down, aim for lower intensity movements as well as static stretches.
Mr Lowcock said there were different warm up and warmdown exercises depending on the sport or training a person did.
YOUR MUSCLES ARE WORKING QUITE HARD SO THERE’S A LOT OF BLOOD FLOW GOING TO THOSE AREAS AND SO THE BLOOD SITTING IN THERE ISN’T IDEAL AFTER ACTIVITY PHYSIOTHERAPIST TIM LOWCOCK