Why Is It Important?
There is no doubt that time spent on warming up and cooling down will improve an athlete's level of performance and accelerate the recovery process needed before and after training or competition. As a result, the coach must encourage the athlete to regard the warm up and cool down as an essential part of both the training session and competition itself.
Warming Up Benefits
Performance may be improved, as an appropriate warm up will result in an:
- Increased speed of contraction and relaxation of warmed muscles
- Dynamic exercises reduce muscle stiffness
- Greater economy of movement because of lowered viscous resistance within warmed muscles
- Facilitated oxygen utilization by warmed muscles because haemoglobin releases oxygen more readily at higher muscle temperatures
- Facilitated nerve transmission and muscle metabolism at higher temperatures; a specific warm up can facilitate motor unit recruitment required in subsequent all out activity
- Increased blood flow through active tissues as local vascular beds dilate, increasing metabolism and muscle temperatures
- Allows the heart rate get to a workable rate for beginning exercise
- Mentally focused on the training or competition
Cooling Down Benefits
An appropriate cool down will:
- Aid in the dissipation of waste products - including lactic acid
- Reduce the potential for DOMS
- 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 to return to its resting rate