<h1 style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #993366;"><em><strong>PART 5 - WHY WARMING UP CORRECTLY IS SO CRITICAL!</strong></em></span></h1>
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<h4><span style="color: #993366;"><strong>What is warming up?</strong></span></h4>
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<h5><span style="color: #008080;"><em>Warming up is the starting period of your exercise session usually, and hopefully, spent below your defined AZ (Aerobic Zone) intensity.</em></span></h5>
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<h5><span style="color: #008080;"><em>This period may vary from person to person and from session to session depending on how you feel on that day.  <img class="alignright wp-image-3627" src="http://www.bpsnowyhealth.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/heart-rate-ekg-ecg-heart-beat-300x278.jpg" alt="heart-rate-ekg-ecg-heart-beat" width="167" height="155" /></em></span></h5>
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<h5><span style="color: #008080;"><em>Age, relative conditioning, talent, injuries, weather, energy preference (fat or
sugar), and perceived lifestyle stress can all dictate one's most appropriate and effective warming up period.</em></span></h5>
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<h5><span style="color: #008080;"><em>Not only is warming up key for optimum physical performance (and particularly if racing), but perhaps more important is priming your brain to plan and ultimately control your upcoming workout - namely, prevent you from hurting yourself.</em></span></h5>
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<h4><span style="color: #993366;"><strong>Why would you allocate a portion of your workout to warming up - below your AZ! </strong></span></h4>
<h4><span style="color: #993366;"><strong>The benefits of a warm up period. </strong></span></h4>
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<h5><span style="color: #008080;"><em><span style="color: #993366;"><strong>Switching on your thermo-regulation</strong></span> - much of athletic performance is governed around dissipating heat.  Just like a car, if you can't balance your (increasing) temperature, by; 1) ridding the body of excessive heat, and 2) cooling the body from the inside out, then it's likely your performance will be ill-effected.  So priming your cooling system requires a gradual increase in intensity from the very start.</em></span></h5>
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<h5><em><span style="color: #993366;"><strong style="color: #008080;">Increases your temperature of working parts</strong></span><span style="color: #008080;"> - the main parts that require lubricating are your muscles, tendons, and most critical for some - moving joints.  Properly warming up is like a quick spray of WD40 </span>lubricant<span style="color: #008080;"> to all moving (and aging) parts.  </span></em></h5>
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<h5><span style="color: #008080;"><em><span style="color: #993366;"><strong>Increases oxygenated blood flow</strong></span> - you now know oxygen plays a vital role towards your optimum performance, so, (gradually) increasing your o2 supply early in your session is critical.  Your warming up goal is to limit increases in blood acidity and as such, prime your aerobic fat burning system for the session ahead.  </em></span></h5>
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<h5><span style="color: #008080;"><em><span style="color: #993366;"><strong>Switching on the 'right' fuel tank</strong></span> - by taking out your intensity too hard  too it's likely you'll tune your (limited) sugar tank for the session ahead.  This is not good as for most, priming your fat <a href="http://balancehealthprograms.com.au/wp-content/uploads/hea.jpg"><img class=" size-full wp-image-2718 alignright" src="http://balancehealthprograms.com.au/wp-content/uploads/hea.jpg" alt="hea" width="275" height="183" /></a>burning fuel tank will provide a far healthier and efficient return of energy.  It takes around 5-15 minutes to adequately prime your fat burning tank for your upcoming workout.  </em></span></h5>
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<h5><em><span style="color: #993366;"><strong>Prime your entire breathing system</strong></span><span style="color: #008080;">- your lungs, pipes, and diaphragm are all key elements in sustained healthy human movement.  Controlled rhythmic breathing works best when spending the time to coordinate your entire respiratory system under little stress.  Be sure to relax your neck and shoulder muscles groups - and remind yourself of this when you pick up your pace. </span></em></h5>
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<h5><span style="color: #008080;"><em><span style="color: #993366;"><strong>Brain priming anticipation</strong> </span>- your brain largely dictates your performance.  It is responsible for managing your 'safest' intensity and volume to avoid hurting yourself.  So gradually and gently letting your brain know you're keen on revving things up in today's workout is a wise move.  It's thought if one  believes they're suffering mid way through your workout, it could very well be a (healthy) brain simply throwing out illusory negative emotions (like stop, slow down, give up) rather simply because one took it out too hard too early and didn't prime the brain for higher intensities intervals to come.  </em></span></h5>
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<h3 style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #ffffff;"><em><strong>Warming up benefits both mind &amp; body.</strong></em></span></h3>
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<h4><span style="color: #993366;"><strong>What can you do to reap the benefits listed above?</strong></span></h4>
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<h5><span style="color: #008080;"><em><span style="color: #993366;"><strong>Firstly drop your AZ top number by <span style="text-decoration: underline;">20 beats</span></strong> </span>(remember this is the point of switching over from burning mainly stored fat to available and stored sugar) - this is your warming up ceiling - and yes, it will well below your usual pace! Eg; my AZ top is 141 beats, so I warm up at around 120 beats max. </em></span></h5>
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<h5><strong><span style="color: #008080;"><em><span style="color: #993366;">Slowly increase your heart rate over a 3-5 minute period till you reach your warming up ceiling</span>. </em></span></strong><span style="color: #008080;"><em>Hold this intensity for another 3-10 minutes. </em></span></h5>
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<h5><span style="color: #008080;"><em><span style="color: #993366;"><strong>Slowly integrate impact</strong></span> (for those bounding) - eg walk, super slow shuffle, jog, tempo run, stretch out.  I always start a run with about 200 metres of <img class="alignright size-full wp-image-3894" src="http://www.bpsnowyhealth.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/fflo.jpg" alt="fflo" width="275" height="183" />walking.  </em></span></h5>
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<h5><span style="color: #008080;"><em><span style="color: #993366;"><strong>A quick word on walking</strong></span> - One of the greatest runners in history Haile Gebresaleassie, walks for 10 minutes before every workout and race - so walk, it works!</em></span></h5>
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<h5><span style="color: #008080;"><em><span style="color: #993366;"><strong>Consider a more forgiving warming up discipline</strong></span> - eg walk or run on grass or a treadmill, jogging stationary on a softer pilates mat, a small warming up trampoline, a stationary bike, or x trainer.</em></span></h5>
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<h5><span style="color: #008080;"><em><span style="color: #993366;"><strong>Start off wearing warmer clothing</strong></span> (obviously only if it's colder) then shed clothes as you feel yourself warm up.  Be sure to avoid over-heating.  </em></span></h5>
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<h5><em><span style="color: #993366;"><strong style="color: #008080;">My opinion on stretching</strong></span><span style="color: #008080;"> - personally I am NOT a fan of static or aggressive ballistic stretching.  While I certainly employed this type of stretching, both personally and professionally for a number of years, mixed results lead me to shelve 'stretching'.  There is loads of supporting research on the internet suggesting stretching could be harmful.  Much of this information suggests an </span>impedance<span style="color: #008080;"> of neural firing.  I am a fan however of more active flowing movements as employed in both active yoga and pilates.</span></em></h5>
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<h4><span style="color: #993366;"><strong>How do you know you're ready to pick things up ?</strong></span></h4>
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<h5><em><span style="color: #ffffff;">You should feel loose, pain free, engaged and looking forward to revving it up.</span></em></h5>
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<h5><em><span style="color: #ffffff;">Often you'll no longer feel those pre-workout aches and pains.  </span></em></h5>
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<h5><em><span style="color: #ffffff;">You've worked up just a little perspiration (well, sweaty boys anyway).</span></em></h5>
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<h5><em><span style="color: #ffffff;">Your workout no longer feels like a chore but you're actually psyched to knock it out. </span></em></h5>
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<h5><em><span style="color: #ffffff;">You feel good!</span></em></h5>
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<h4><span style="color: #993366;"><strong>A quick word on cooling down</strong></span></h4>
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<h5><span style="color: #008080;"><em>Firstly, avoid hammering the very last phase of your workout.  Save sprint finishes for a race if that's what you do.  The last thing we need is returning to <img class="alignright size-medium wp-image-3895" src="http://www.bpsnowyhealth.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/ffhfhfh-1-300x169.jpg" alt="ffhfhfh" width="300" height="169" />everyday life with a bucket full of lactic acid pouring out of your ears.</em></span></h5>
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<h5><span style="color: #008080;"><em>Secondly, like your warm up, drop your AZ top by 10-15% every minute for 3-5 minutes. Eg; I usually walk for 2-3 minutes post most runs.  </em></span></h5>
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<h5><span style="color: #008080;"><em>Harder workouts require longer cool down periods.</em></span></h5>
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<h5><span style="color: #008080;"><em>A shower is not a cool down.</em></span></h5>
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<h3 style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #ffffff;"><em><strong><a href="http://balancehealthprograms.com.au/part-6-the-undeniable-benefit-of-strength-training/">TAKE ME TO PART 6 - THE UNDENIABLE BENEFITS OF STRENGTH TRAINING</a></strong></em></span></h3>
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