The Warm Up and Cool Down

Warming up and cooling down correctly are two of the most important things you can do in a gym. Not only are they essential for their injury preventing qualities, but they also serve to increase flexibility, increase the intensity and volume of weights lifted and speed up recovery time from the workout. So why is it that countless times in the gym I see people ignoring the warm up and jumping straight into a heavy set?

Others do 5 minutes on a treadmill, one 'lighter' set and some static stretches and then lunge into a full weights session. This is both an inefficient way to start your workout and the fast track to injury.

So why should we warm up before training?
An efficient warm up had been proved to facilitate a better workout in numerous ways, such as:

·         Shortened response times and increased contractile speed in muscle fibres

·         More energy efficient contractions, due to the lower viscosity of warmed muscles that cause resistance to muscular force production

·         Reduction of muscle stiffness thus reducing the chance of injury

·         Greater oxygen uptake into myoglobin due to haemoglobin releasing oxygen more readily at higher muscle temperatures

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New Years resolution? Wanting to burn fat fast? Try HIIT Training!

Still thinking about getting into shape for the summer, are we? Some of us think about it until mid-September and finally say, “Why bother? The summer is already over.” Personally, I have a problem with the getting-in-shape approach to fitness, health and well-being. It carries with it a temporary connotation, as if getting in shape is something we casually gain and lose on a regular basis. Here today, gone tomorrow and here today again… more like here today and gone for good, if we don’t watch out. Make health and fitness a lifestyle and you’ll shine like the summer’s sun every day.

You know the drill. Eat right and exercise regularly, smaller meals more often, more protein and fresh vegetables and fruit. Yeah, yeah. Aerobics (ugh) till I drop… Uh, oh. Wrong. Big wrong. Boy, have I fought this concept of physical fitness with a sword and a shield. Run, jump, dance, step, spin, jog… more, more… you’re going to evaporate. Stop all that cardio nonsense — unless you just love it like chocolate and can’t stop — and apply it with logic and intelligence. Let me explain something briefly.

THE CARDIO BOOM

In the mid-70s when mainstream America was first turning on to fitness, somebody came up with the running craze; lotsa carbohydrates to fuel the running machine, lean bodies, marathons, 10-Ks, 5-Ks, cardiovascular rules, run, run, run, burn fat, kill calories. The books and the doctors said so. Fit or fat, aerobic enzymes, classes on the hour, run, Jane, run. We became fully indoctrinated.

The world of industry and commerce and big bucks took the cue and built the machines to keep us hopping. They invent new ones each year and streamline the old ones like Ford and BMW. Aerobics is big business. Aerobics is over-rated. Aerobic work needs to be sent to the back of the room and behave according to our needs. Bridle the frantic creature and make it work for you.

It seems as if the whole world forgot about muscles, protein, and lifting weights for a quarter of a century. Twenty-five years of frustration has led us, thank goodness, to some very sound thinking and dandy cardio procedures.

High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) is a salvation for those determined to improve cardiovascular health, burn fat and spare muscle, sanity and time.


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