You know, as a lifelong athlete, especially when I was younger, I never wanted to do those warm ups. Whether it was arm circles, jumping jacks, or any other light, low impact movements, it never excited me. I just wanted to jump right in. When you’re younger, you can get away with it, but now that I’ve been coaching athletes and my fitness clients for a decade, I know that this is essential knowledge for long term success and double down on its importance which is easy to overlook.

The goal of fitness knowledge is not to speak about it, but eventually get it to a place where it becomes second nature. For example, when you’re thirsty, the instinct should be to drink water, when you’re tight, to stretch, and when you’re cold or just starting a routine, we want the instinct to be to warm up. We want to raise body temperature, heart rate, loosen up stiff muscle tissue, activate the nervous system and prime yourself for a bout of activity, whether that be a workout, sports, or fun at the playground.

We can discuss improved blood flow, oxygen, nutrients, and all that great stuff, but the real goal here is not to talk about it, but to apply it. The reason you are reading this article is to get clear on what the actual goal is, which is to develop your instinct to warm up properly, know what that feels like, match the demands of your environment, such as cold or warm weather, sports, low impact or high impact activity, and get on with your day. Active stretching is all about preparing yourself for exercise, from range of motion and coordination and mental focus. This can be achieved in 10-15 minutes depending on sport and circumstance.

We can discuss how to reduce your risk for injury, sharpening your mind and body connection to get into the zone. It all should make obvious sense as you’re reading this. Here’s the real goal; how do we prepare for fitness properly so that we can achieve all of these goals, without thinking about it, the same way you breathe 99.9% of the time voluntarily.

From a low impact jog, to jumping on a mini trampoline, jump rope, sport specific drills and active stretching, the goal is to develop a light sweat, build momentum and just get that routine started. One of the biggest challenges I’ve seen my clients face is how overwhelmed they are in the beginning of their routine, that it often leads to skipping the gym or workout, or going too hard too fast. This is a mental block, and I assure you that a new mentality will breed a deeper understanding of how to actually build momentum in your workout in the micro, as you want to build your lifestyle in the macro.

Now, you’ve warmed up, gone through your workout, maybe a sport or activity, and it’s time to cool down. These patterns exist in many areas, whether it’s a car decelerating at the end of a race, going to sleep at night, recharging a battery or landing a plane. It’s time for your heart rate

to come back down to normal, lowering your body temperature, and allowing yourself to get into a rest period so that you can repair muscles and recover properly.

In this phase of your routine, after we’ve contracted muscles, ran around, got into jumping, swimming, hiking, crawling, climbing and all of that fun stuff, it’s time to focus on reducing the post exercise stiffness and soreness. We want to lengthen the muscle tissue, allowing oxygen and nutrients to infuse into and aid in improving flexibility and mobility. This type of stretching is called static stretching, which should be coupled with an ability to breathe deeply, slow and controlled, helping to calm your nervous system and decrease muscular tension, promoting relaxation, improving sleep in order to complete the cycle of your routine, ensuring a speedy recovery time so that you can get back into the flow as soon as possible. There are days where this is 10 minutes, and sometimes on a rest day, I’ll do an extended stretch and focus on a deeper breath to achieve a more focused, enhanced result.

I’d also check out our article on ice and heat to understand the potential challenges you may face as you integrate the right components of your workout. Fitness is a lifestyle, and having a full, 360 degree routine is how we stay consistent and achieve our goals. I’ve witnessed and experienced firsthand as an athlete the drawbacks of not properly bookending my workouts, from time out from sport, having to go into rehabilitation or modified versions of my workouts and ultimately losing motivation from being frustrated with not doing this properly. Remember, active stretching prepares you to move, static stretching helps you recover, speeds up that recovery time so you can get back in action as soon as possible and stay consistent. Stay active, stay healthy.