The Power of Warming Up and Cooling Down: The Key to Injury-Free, Consistent Training

Today I completed a track workout with my coach. It consisted of six, 1-mile repeats with about 2 minutes rest in between. All too often the working sets get the attention, get the kudos on strava, and showcase the fast mile splits our egos need, but what the run workout also consisted of was a 2-mile warm-up and 1-mile cool-down at a 12-minute pace. One of the reasons I’ve been able to stay injury-free and consistent with my training is my commitment to proper warm-ups and cool-downs. Many endurance athletes overlook these key components, but they play a vital role in preparing the body for intense exercise and aiding recovery afterward.

Your body isn’t designed to go from resting to full effort instantly. It takes time for your cardiovascular system, muscles, and nervous system to adapt. When you start a run or bike ride, your heart rate, blood flow, and oxygen delivery need time to catch up to the demand you’re placing on them. Do you ever notice how the first 10 to 15 minutes of a run can feel sluggish, and then suddenly, at around 25-30 minutes, you feel like you could go for an hour more? That’s because your body has fully transitioned into aerobic efficiency. This is mainly due to increased blood flow, muscle activation, and a gradual heart rate increase. Warming-up helps to dilate blood vessels, allowing more oxygen-rich blood to reach working muscles. Performing muscle activation movements (bonus points for adding in a band) will engage key muscle groups, making them more responsive and reducing injury risk. Slowly increasing heart rate instead of spiking it abruptly will allow the cardiovascular system to adapt smoothly. If athletes take the time to warm-up all of the aforementioned items happen then and not during your first 10 minutes of a key session. There are also benefits of mental preparation while you warm-up. You can visualize your goals for the session and picture positive outcomes. A large portion of fitness gains come from winning the battle inside your head.

You have an endless list of warm-up options but a few I have really gravitated toward for running and biking are light jogging or cycling, keeping the heart rate below 130 and remembering to keep your cadence high. Simple dynamic stretching like leg swings, high knees, butt kicks, and A-skips are great. I will often mix in strides or short accelerations and grab a band to use for crab walks, which activate my glutes. For swimming, I grab the same band and perform a variation of arm mobility work before swims such as internal and external shoulder rotations, ‘W’ pulls, and alternating swim pulls.

Just like the body needs time to ramp up, it also needs time to return to baseline. Stopping exercise suddenly can lead to dizziness, blood pooling in the extremities, and prolonged muscle tightness. Cooling down helps gradually lower heart and blood pressure and flushing out metabolic byproducts such as lactate, helping to mitigate delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS). Simple cool downs I’ve been doing include 5-10 minutes of easy jogging or spinning the pedals on the bike and switching out dynamic stretching for static stretching like hamstrings, quad, and hip flexor stretches. Remember, keep it simple and sweet. 

Warming up and cooling down may seem like minor details, but they have a major impact on performance and longevity in endurance sports. I often think about my milestone goals in triathlon, but generally, I want to do this for the rest of my life, which means I  have to take care of my body—and you should, too! Taking the time to properly transition in and out of workouts can mean the difference between staying healthy and getting sidelined.