Warm-up & Cool-down

Story

Connected to · 3

antagonism · 1

Does stretching prevent injury
Holding a stretch for more than 60 seconds before exercise briefly lowers your strength and power afterward (strength by about 5% on average). For explosive sports, long static stretching before competing does little to prevent injury and costs some performance up front; dynamic movements make a better warm-up.

regulates · 2

DOMS soreness
A cool-down cannot clear delayed-onset muscle soreness, because the soreness was never caused by lactate: lactate is cleared within an hour after you stop, while soreness peaks a day or two later. It comes from small injuries left by muscles working while they lengthen (eccentric contractions), and the repair that follows.
Training injuries
The part of a warm-up worth doing is raising body temperature and rehearsing the movements, which makes the session better. What actually prevents injury is something else: in a meta-analysis of randomized trials, strength training cut sports injuries by about two thirds, while stretching showed no effect. You also have to keep the pace of increasing your training in check.

Read full story

Stop 1/5

What a warm-up actually raises

EVIDENCEREVIEW 1

READ THE ORIGINAL

A warm-up is worth doing, but first get clear on what it actually does: then you know how to warm up, and what not to expect from it.

A good warm-up raises a few things: muscle temperature goes up (internal friction in the muscle drops and contractions run more smoothly), neural recruitment improves (the brain wakes up more motor units), metabolism and the heart and lungs get ready for work, and the joints move into the range you will use today. A common framework is RAMP (Raise, Activate, Mobilize, Potentiate): activity that builds from easy toward target intensity, plus a few light rehearsals of the movements you are about to do.

A warm-up means heating the body up step by step and preparing for today's work, not walking a couple of laps and doing a bit of stretching as a ritual unconnected to what comes next.

Educational content, not medical advice — consult a clinician.

Back

Warm-up & Cool-down

Story

Connected to · 3

antagonism · 1

Does stretching prevent injury
Holding a stretch for more than 60 seconds before exercise briefly lowers your strength and power afterward (strength by about 5% on average). For explosive sports, long static stretching before competing does little to prevent injury and costs some performance up front; dynamic movements make a better warm-up.

regulates · 2

DOMS soreness
A cool-down cannot clear delayed-onset muscle soreness, because the soreness was never caused by lactate: lactate is cleared within an hour after you stop, while soreness peaks a day or two later. It comes from small injuries left by muscles working while they lengthen (eccentric contractions), and the repair that follows.
Training injuries
The part of a warm-up worth doing is raising body temperature and rehearsing the movements, which makes the session better. What actually prevents injury is something else: in a meta-analysis of randomized trials, strength training cut sports injuries by about two thirds, while stretching showed no effect. You also have to keep the pace of increasing your training in check.

Read full story

Stop 1/5

What a warm-up actually raises

EVIDENCEREVIEW 1

READ THE ORIGINAL

A warm-up is worth doing, but first get clear on what it actually does: then you know how to warm up, and what not to expect from it.

A good warm-up raises a few things: muscle temperature goes up (internal friction in the muscle drops and contractions run more smoothly), neural recruitment improves (the brain wakes up more motor units), metabolism and the heart and lungs get ready for work, and the joints move into the range you will use today. A common framework is RAMP (Raise, Activate, Mobilize, Potentiate): activity that builds from easy toward target intensity, plus a few light rehearsals of the movements you are about to do.

A warm-up means heating the body up step by step and preparing for today's work, not walking a couple of laps and doing a bit of stretching as a ritual unconnected to what comes next.

Educational content, not medical advice — consult a clinician.