Warming up before and cooling down after exercise is an essential part of any session. Warming up and Cooling down may seem like time that could be better spent actually exercising, this is certainly not the case. A correct Warm Up and Cool Down routine can improve performance both physically and mentally. The warm up will focus you on the training session ahead and what you plan to work on specifically.
Benefits of Warm Up
Warm up exercises let the body prepare for exercise by increasing blood flow to the muscles allowing them loosen up. Not only can this help to maximize the benefits of exercise it can also help to prevent against injury.
The main areas that a warm up should cover are:
- Light movement to increase the body’s temperature
- Dynamic stretches to reduce muscle stiffness
- Specific stretches and movement of the muscles that will be used during boxing training.
Boxing Warm Up Routine
Your warm up exercises should last for around 8 to 10 minutes or 3 x 3 minute rounds. This involves light movement and exercises to steadily warm all areas of your body. A good sign to know when you warmed up is a light sweat should appear. Now you have increased blood flow and body temperature your now ready to stretch. Stretch all your major muscles starting from head to toe, each of these stretches should last for a duration of 10 to 30 seconds depending on stiffness. Ensure you focus your stretching on specific muscles groups used for boxing.
Benefits of Cool Down
The process of cooling down after exercise is just as important as warming up. The main aim of cooling down is to assist in recovery and to bring the body back to a pre-workout state
- Allows heart rate and breathing to gradually return to a state of rest.
- Allows the body to dissipate waste products generated during exercise. Flushes body of toxins and release strains.
- Reduce soreness that is generally faced the day after a strenuous workout.
Boxing Cool Down Routine
There are three aspects to a Boxing Cool Down Routine these are gentle exercise, stretching and re-fuel. They work jointly to repair and replenish the body after exercise. For an effective cool-down, carry out a low intensity exercise for a minimum of 5 to 10 minutes and follow this with a stretching routine.
During the cooling down process, after the heart rate has been lowered, stretch all major muscles, particularly the ones that have just been worked on. Every stretch ought to last for at least eight seconds, with longer stretches and repeats for those muscles that feel particularly sore.
The last part of the cooling down after exercise process involves the re-fuel, just as proper nutrition is needed before exercise to provide the fuel needed for activity (CNP Pro Slam), the body requires nourishment for the after exercise process of building muscles so water, minerals and carbohydrates are all needed. We reccomend CNP Pro Recover.
Whilst warm up and cooling down does not guarantee injuries will not occur during exercise it can significantly reduces the chances if carried out properly.