Lesson video

Hi everybody and welcome to today's lesson.

Today we're going to be talking about warming up and cooling down.

Something I imagine you're very familiar with.

Whether it is you playing sport and you doing this at the beginning and the end of your session or whether you are able to reflect on your PE lessons and your practical lessons when you do that at the start and the end of the lesson.

Now this fits in the physical training section of the specification and links specifically about the work you've been doing on injury and injury prevention.

Now we're probably very familiar with doing these things, but if asked, could we explain quite clearly the phases of a warmup and a cool down? And then if we got asked even more, would we be able to be really clear on what the benefits are of doing those two things? And then if the answer to that is no, that's fine.

'Cause today we're going to feel like we are able to explain the phases of the warmup and the cool down and also to be explained those benefits.

So our key words, obviously we can see that at top of the list.

We've got the warmup.

Now that is something that happens before exercise very much about raising the heart rate, the temperature of the body and the muscles to really make sure that you've got that enhanced flexibility, that bigger range of movement at your joint.

The cool down is something that happens post-exercise, a key word to see in that is gradual.

So that's very much that you bring down the intensity so that helps you to recover but also means you're not very sore the next day.

We will talk about a pulse raiser.

That's very much something that happens in the warmup and it's very much around increasing the heart rate and getting more blood flowing towards those muscles that are just about to work.

In both these phases, we do some stretching and they are just a variety of exercises that are stretching the muscles but making sure that range of movement of joints is increasing.

And we'll also look at mental preparation and that doesn't really talk about the physical element of being prepared, but where you might need that brain, that focus, that motivation to be at its very best so that when you perform you performing well and also not having any of those feelings of anxiety.

So our lesson today has three sections.

The first one, we're gonna actually talk through the phases of the warmup.

We're then going to mirror that, but then talking about a cool down.

And then we're gonna bring that all together in the last part of the lesson where we're gonna look at the benefits of both a warmup and a cool down.

So I want to introduce you to Laura.

Now Laura has been asked to plan a warmup for her football team.

So she's wanting to find out a little bit more about what to do in those phases.

And then if asked, which I imagine could be asked of her, she might get asked, why are we doing this? She's then able to explain those benefits.

So she's asking a question first of all, and you might know the answer.

She's found out about jogging, some tag games, a game called dishes and domes and she wants to know what they have in common.

Well, it may be that you recognise these for activities that you do at the very start of your warmup.

And these are actually activities that Laura could use for that first phase of the warmup.

So we're gonna look at phase one and we're gonna reference that as a pulse raiser activity.

So those cones there are really common cones used by a lot of practical coaches, practical teachers.

And if they were to be placed in a marked area, you could have some that are facing upwards and we can imagine that's almost like a dome.

And then we could have some that are facing downwards.

So it would look like a dish and there could be loads scattered everywhere.

And we could just put the group into two teams and then they have to just run around, one team's trying to turn them back to a dome.

So they're facing upwards and the other team's trying to turn them back to a dish which is them facing downwards.

And that's gonna mean that they're running around, they're gonna having fun, but they're also gonna be bending and straightening as they get down to the floor to be able to turn these cones.

And it also gives them a chance for a little bit of fun competition.

Now that's a real example and there are many, many others examples like that where it's an activity where there's that gradual increase in the heart rate.

So as well as having fun, our heart is given a chance to kind of keep beating faster and that's a good thing 'cause there's gonna be an increase in blood flow to those muscles that we're just about to use when we play sport.

Now after that, once we've got that blood run into our muscles.

Phase two of a warmup is when we might do some stretching.

Now in some cases that could be static stretching.

So if we see here, there may be some examples there that you recognise from when you've done some stretching, particularly the upper body.

So you can see our individuals here are just kind of holding that position and stretching some of those muscles in that upper body and in their arms. Likewise for the lower body, we can see individuals are stretching that gastrocnemius that muscle in the back of the calf, the hamstring, the quadriceps, big muscles in that lower body that we use a lot when we play sport.

And when we do that in a static way, we're holding that stretch and we're not moving.

So we're just holding in that position.

Now stretching can also be dynamic.

So by that, if we look at this stretch here, we can see that's very much a hamstring stretch and it's been held.

But look at our student here, she's doing a really similar stretch.

So she's leaning down, she's stretching that muscle in the back of her thigh, but she's adding some walking and some active movements into that stretch.

So that's an example of dynamic stretching.

So it's that stretching movement but involving those active movements.

And what dynamic stretching does is it's a very handy activity to be involved in a warmup because the muscles and the joints are being really extended through that full range of motion.

Now Laura's saying, have you completed some dynamic stretching? And if you have, this might be a good time to pause the recording and just kind of remind yourself what those dynamic stretching movements looked like.

And I imagine you were very much on the move when you were doing those.

Quick check.

We've got a true or false question here.

Sprinting is suitable for phase one of a warmup.

Do we think that's true or false? Well done if you worked out that, that was actually false.

And the reason why we've mentioned that keyword of gradual and it is really important for that phase one, that pulse raiser, that the heart rate has time to gradually increase.

Now if we just ask someone to sprint, that is too intense and therefore the heart rate's gonna go rapidly high and because the muscles don't have that oxygen flowing to them, they could be at risk of getting injured or being hurt in some way 'cause you're asking them to do something that they're not quite prepared to do.

Now we've got our phase one, our pulse raiser.

We know now phase two is stretching.

And Laura has been told that for phase three very much is around activity familiarisation.

So she's asking here, okay, is this the point where I would probably get the footballs out and do some skill-based practise? And good question Laura, that is exactly what phase three involves.

Involves those kind of skill practises, particularly those skills that are gonna feature a lot in the sport.

So for football, passing, dribbling, maybe some shooting.

And what's happening there is the body and the brain are being prepared for those movements that they're just about to do in their activity.

So for our handball group here, you can probably see that in the image there they are just about to do some shooting.

And what we could probably suggest here they've probably done their pulse raiser, they've done their stretching and before they go into that competitive environment, they're actually practising some shooting and that's really preparing their body for those relevant movements, linking it specifically to the movements they're just about to use.

Great question from Aisha here though.

Would a goalkeeper be also practising shooting? And I guess you're all probably answering that with no, because they don't shoot within the game but the goalkeeper is probably the one that's trying to save some of those shots there.

So also practising those movements in their position in a handball game.

So Laura's taking on lots of information here and she's just about to share with us some of the phases of her plan and we need to work out which of those phases is actually phase two of the warmup.

So she tells us that part of her plan, she's getting her group to do 10 passes of the football on each foot.

She's also getting them to do some bib tag and because of that lower body being used a lot in football, she's getting them to do some walking lunges to focus on the lower body.

So five seconds to decide which of those is phase two? Really well done.

It was this last bit here about walking lunges.

You may have worked out that that's actually that dynamic stretching that phase two that follows on from our pulse raiser 'cause our muscles are nice and warm there and then they can be stretched.

Did you identify as well that that first example was that skills practise, that activity familiarisation and then that middle example there was the pulse raiser.

That fun activity to gradually increase the heart rate.

To finish with it is important that we prepare our body physically but we've also got the mind to be aware of.

That mind needs to be focused, it needs to be on task, it needs to be free of anxiety and arousal 'cause that can lead to mistakes.

So that final phase of a warmup and one that we shouldn't ignore is where we do something to get ready psychologically.

And we refer to that as mental preparation.

So you can see there we've got an athlete even maybe possibly listening to music or could be doing some kind of meditation or using music to get into the zone.

And those techniques are really about getting that optimal focus, reducing any feelings of anxiety.

And we want that mind and those emotions to be also warm and ready for the activity that's just about to start.

A nice lead there onto our first practise task.

We spoke about football and handball, we looked at a sprinter really getting into the zone, but we're now being asked that hockey team is requesting a warmup plan.

And all we need to do is outline those four phases in the correct order.

And then for each of those phase just give a simple description of what that involves for the hockey team.

Pause the recording and come back to me when you're ready.

Welcome back.

How did you get on with phase one? Did you put them in this order? So phase one, pulse raiser, phase two stretching, phase three, activity familiarisation, and phase four mental preparation.

And quite simply a description of each of those is that first activity to gradually increase the heart rate and have a little bit of fun too.

'Cause that's useful when we're coming together as a team.

That stretching can be both static and dynamic.

But what that's doing is now the muscles are nice and warm.

We're getting that bigger range of movement, something skill-based so that those movements that they're just about to do in hockey will be rehearsed and they will be familiar with them.

And then finally not ignoring that time to just get in that zone time to psychologically be ready and have that optimal focus.

So we feel confident now on those four effective phases of a warmup, let's turn our attention to the latter part of a session and look at those phases of effective cool down.

Now what is important and it can be quite easy to do where that because the sport has happened, the activity, the game, it can be really easy to miss that cool down.

So Laura is saying there or recognising that is important that she does that.

And she's also been really honest that it's quite common that the end of a game in particular, she just wants to get home, she's hungry, we're always hungry after sport, we've used lots of energy and we wanna replenish that energy.

So as a result she wants to just find a little bit more about that cool down process.

Now the first thing we would say to Laura is, once the game is finished or once the exercise has stopped, it's very important that there's some kind of gentle jog or walk as that first phase of a cool down.

Now what's happening there is that breathing rate, that heart rate needs to remain elevated.

Okay, the heart has just been really busy, the breathing has just been really busy.

We can't suddenly stop.

We need to allow it to stay a little bit high 'cause it's gonna be still trying to take some oxygen in order to recover but also get rid of that carbon dioxide in particular.

So that's phase one that kind of gentle jog that reduction in intensity.

So we know it's really important that they don't suddenly stop.

And maybe she's saying well what would I say if they ask us, well why can't we stop? A really good answer to that is if they do, because that blood's been pumping around the body quite vigorously while you've been exercising, if you just suddenly stop, nothing's really working to continue to push it around the body and that blood can almost collect, it can pool inside our vessels and can then lead to you feeling quite dizzy because there's almost a small lack of oxygen that's getting to the brain.

So it makes that a real appreciation about why you should do something gradual rather than just suddenly stop.

And as it says there, you know you're getting that intake of oxygen to allow the body to recover.

And that blood to still keep moving around the body and not pool in that way.

So which of these activities, jogging, walking, jumping or light peddling if they were using like a static bike would not be suitable for phase one of a cool down? Well done, we wouldn't be encouraging jumping, it's likely that jumping will have happened in the activity but you need that gradual reduction intensity and jumping is not a gradual reduction.

However, jogging, walking and light pedalling if you've got that static bike available are really good examples of phase one of a cool down.

Now there are just two phases to a cool down.

That's the first one on.

The second one is getting the individuals to stretch.

They've already done stretching in the warmup, in the cool down it's very common to encourage static stretching.

So we can see here we've got a really common stretch for that gastrocnemius, that back of the lower leg in the calf.

This one here is doing lots of stretching of all those muscles in the back of the legs maybe helping a little bit in terms of that lower back as well.

And this one's where you might be lying on the ground and you're just holding those legs to one side, arms nice and wide and then to the other side.

So that's given you a real opportunity to hold a position and a lot of those muscles that will have been used to be stretched.

Now we do need to remember that the muscles are already warm at this point.

They've gone through a period of activity, we got lots of oxygen flowing through them.

So this is the point where it is okay to do that static stretching and you can hold it for a little bit longer.

So phase two of a cool down really involves that static stretching.

That muscle can not only be lengthened to help with that range of movement but also be stretched in a way that it's not gonna feel sore the next day.

Now she's saying here, what if she gets asked about how long the stretches should be held for? And it may be good to put a time on it.

It's really common that at this point of a cool down the stretch would be.

They would request that you hold that for approximately 10 to 20 seconds.

So like the individual there is doing a very common stretch for the quadriceps.

Once they're nice and warm you can hold that and hold it for up to 20 seconds.

Now this might be a good opportunity for you to pause the recording and see if you can remember some other static stretches that you could do as part of a cool down.

And remember these are ones that you are stood still and holding that.

Quick check here we are being asked, dynamic stretching, can that be completed in a cool down? Is that true or false? I agree that's also false.

Now we learned about dynamic stretching in the first part of the lesson and it is very much more associated with the warmup because it's trying to increase that range of movement and get some active movements involved.

Whereas in a cool down, remember the muscles are already warm and pliable.

Now if a whistle is pliable, it's an increase in temperature so it's able to stretch a bit further.

So a static stretching is very much advised in that cool down phase and as we've already discussed can be held for slightly longer.

So just to kind of remind ourselves of our activities that we do in our phases, the first part of this second task is where I'd like you to look at this table, look at the different activities and just add in there whether that is from the warmup or from the cool down.

And when you've done task one, we'd like you to think about a rowing team in this instance.

And the rowing team are also asking about that effective cool down.

So what are those two phases? Can you outline those two phases and like we did in task one, just make a brief description about each of that phase in the cool down specifically for a rowing team.

Pause the recording and come back to me when you're ready.

Okay, welcome back.

Did you complete the table in this way? So the dynamic stretching is more associated with warmup where static stretching, we do that mainly in the cool down but it can be some sports.

Some individuals may choose to do some in their warmup.

A pulse raiser is very much a warmup.

It's that phase one.

Likewise that skill practise to get that activity familiarisation.

Mental preparation so that we've got that focus.

But in terms of walking, that would be an activity that would be very common in that first phase of that cool down when you're gradually reducing the intensity.

So our two phases for our rowing team, very much that first phase, reduction in intensity, second stage stretching and then a description there that could be for our rowing team that they do some jogging or walking on land or they might just do some gentle rowing so that that breathing rate and heart rate remains elevated.

And then that static stretching and a really good description there that we are looking at that time limit of up to 20 seconds.

Well done, so we now know the phases of the warmup and the cool down.

Laura needs to be in a position where she can explain those benefits.

So the last part of our lesson is where we're gonna do exactly that.

And this is what she's sharing with us.

She now understands that warmup and cool down, but she wants to be able to sell them to her team and how can we help her do that? Now we have three images here and each image does represent a benefit.

So that's just gonna get us thinking about what those benefits might be.

And what do you think each of those images represents.

Now that first image is a very, very important part of a warmup and that's very much about preventing injury.

So we don't want our ankles to sprain like what's been shown in that image.

We need to get them nice and mobile and loose and those muscles around them nice and warm.

So hopefully that injury won't happen.

That rock climber there we can see that we've got, you know, her hips and her shoulders in particular are reaching up.

So she's got that increased range of move movement and we definitely want that to be a benefit from our warmup.

And we do need those muscles to be pliable.

I use that word pliable.

So we need them to be warm and we need to be ready.

We don't want them to be cold and then suddenly stretch and that might cause them to tear or be in some kind of pain.

So what we're gonna do is we're gonna divide these up into different systems to make it a little bit easier to understand.

So we'll start with the muscular system first of all.

And what a lovely image there that we can see that those muscles on that individual just like about to throw the ball maybe or catch that ball have definitely gone through a warmup and are ready to do that movement.

So our benefits of a warmup for our muscles are, that playability.

So not just our muscles but also our ligaments and our tendons that connective tissue that works within our muscles.

Our ligaments connect bone to bone, our tendons connect muscle to bone, all of those get an increase in temperature they get more pliable and that means that they're less likely to go through that strain or to tear.

Now your muscle efficiency is massively increased because they're nice and warm.

They've been stretched in a way, they've been lengthened.

And that in some sports where you might need that sprinting, that jumping, that high intense movement, they're gonna be ready to do that.

So that means when you do ask them to do that, they're able to achieve that movement and that is largely because you've got that more oxygenated blood that's moving towards those working muscles.

So they're able to use that oxygen in that warmup phase and then you're not expecting them to try and go through that process at the start of a game or a start of an activity because the oxygen's there, that means those muscles will be working aerobically.

The opposite of that is anaerobic.

Can we remember what our byproduct is of anaerobic respiration? Absolutely it's lactic acid and lactic acid can cause a bit of discomfort, can cause cramp.

We don't really want it in our muscles so it's part of the warmup.

By us getting the oxygen moving to those muscles, we already are in that position where they're working aerobically.

And that links to the fact that they'll also be able to then metabolise the carbohydrates, the glycogen and or the fats.

So we've given the muscles the time to almost go through those processes before starting the activity and then having to kind of do that at the start of the activity.

Which is gonna make you feel like you're not quite ready.

Whereas we wanna start the activity at all of this is already happened.

And we can say the same for the cardio respiratory system as well.

Like we want the heart rate to be feel like it's ready, it's pumping likewise for the breathing rate.

And in doing so that's gonna be taking in that oxygen and letting it go to the working muscles.

That slightly increase of oxygen means that you're gonna have that more gaseous exchange, you're gonna have more oxygen moving into the blood.

And as you start to exercise there's gonna be more carbon dioxide coming out.

Remember our blood vessels as well as part of this system, those arteries leading towards the muscles, they're going to vasodilate, alright? That means they're gonna widen to allow more blood to flow through.

We want that to be happening before we start.

So again, it's going through those processes to be physically ready.

And we know that in order for vasodilation to happen, vasoconstriction to inactive areas like the gut, the liver, the stomach, that will happen.

So that means that there's like a blood redistribution, more blood can be distributed to those areas that need it the most.

And when we start to exercise those areas are definitely those working muscles.

And finally like the central nervous system, those benefits to the brain, by you doing that skill familiarisation, that is stimulating the brain and that nerves to kind of be ready to be coordinated, to be ready to react.

And that means hopefully your movements when you start will be quicker and not sluggish 'Cause you would've had opportunity to practise them.

You'll be familiarised with them.

So maybe if you've done some passing or some throwing and catching, if you've dropped the ball during then that's okay 'cause that means that hopefully those mistakes will be minimised as you start to play.

And there is that link of you know, being mentally or psychologically ready.

Do you have that positive attitude? Are you up for it? Have you gone through some techniques to maybe if you were feeling a little bit anxious or under or over aroused? You've done some things that allows you to just kind of get into that optimal zone.

And hopefully by doing so, massive benefit of that is you'll be much more focused and hopefully more intrinsically motivated.

Ready to kind of ready to have that drive, ready to take on the activity.

So we've got three individuals here that are going to talk about benefits of a warmup.

We need to work out which one is discussing or describing a muscular system benefit.

Is it Andeep who says that he can jump higher once he's done his pulse raiser and his stretch? Izzy is saying that she felt really focused after the last phase.

And Sophia is saying that she was able to take in more oxygen to increase that blood flow to those active areas.

Well done it is in fact Andeep.

So because of that pulse raiser and that stretch, that intense muscle contraction he's capable to do that.

So what he's sharing with us there is he could feel that he was able to jump higher.

Whereas Izzy is talking about that central nervous system that link to the brain.

And Sophia is talking about those benefits from that cardio respiratory system.

So Lori is now saying to Sophia, what are the benefits of an effective cool down? Sophia's thinking, well I'm guessing it is also to prevent injury, and maybe allow the body to recover so it doesn't feel sore the next day.

And Sophia is giving us a really nice description there.

But if we wanted to explain those benefits into a bit more detail, we could talk about lactic acid and it is gonna build up as we exercise.

So we need to remove that and if we don't and that stays in the muscles, that can mean that they might feel very sore the next day or certainly the day after that.

And we call that DOMS, delayed onset of muscle soreness.

So where the waste products in the muscle can almost just cause the muscle fibres to not feel very good.

Alright and next day that means that you might feel a bit sore and a bit stiff.

Now if we do that cool down, we reduce the likelihood of that.

We also reduce those feelings of fatigue because we haven't just suddenly stopped.

Remember we said about maintaining that breathing rate and often that is to get rid of that excess carbon dioxide.

For some it's just an opportunity maybe to work with others or just reflect on what they've just done and what they've achieved and how the game went.

It's also a chance whilst those muscles are still nice and pliable, that you get that stretch and that in itself might help with the range of movement of your joints and your muscles.

And probably the most important benefit is you are just given that your body time to return to its preexisting state or state pre-exercise.

And we don't wanna feel dizzy, remember? So we're doing that blood flow, we're maintaining it around the body so you don't get that blood pooling.

So lots of benefits there.

In this list here we have four benefits but which are actual benefits of the cool down process.

Five seconds to decide.

Well done, we've got that.

Preventing muscle soreness, but also getting rid that excess carbon dioxide.

We spoke about DOMS, so just quick check here, which of these is the correct meaning of DOMS? Well done.

There's some real similarities there isn't it? But if you ever see that phrase DOMS, remind yourself that is the delayed onset of muscle soreness and that can be brought about by that lactic acid remaining in the muscles and not being dispersed, not being removed.

So to finish with, we can see the explain command used here.

And we are being asked to explain four reasons why a warmup is important.

And we're gonna do that for a cool down, but we're gonna be specific to a game of table tennis.

So we need to make sure that the points are developed to not only state the benefit but develop it to give the reason of that benefit.

So why is that important? Pause the recording and come back to me when you're ready.

Okay, how did you guys do? For the first one, the four reasons why a warmup is important.

These are just things you could have said.

Now we know there are many, many benefits.

So the ones you have written down maybe slightly different to the ones I'm about to share, but when I share these I just want you to show how they've been developed.

So I've used a really simple word of so, to make sure that my answer does give the why.

Alright, explain is asking us to give a purpose or reason.

So we're now saying why that's important.

So that pliability of muscles, we develop that to say that so they're less likely to tear.

That more oxygenated blood going to the muscles.

The purpose of that is 'cause they can then be kind of ready for that aerobic respiration.

That activation of the central nervous system in the brain, that's so the player is ready and how nice in that one that we've been really clear to a table tennis player.

So we want them to have that reaction time.

They need to be ready to react to those shots right from the start.

And we've been really specific there to that range of movement specifically in the shoulder joint.

That shoulder joint gets used a lot when we play table tennis.

And that also means that they can react, they can move, they can play those shots with ease.

Now there are many, many ways you could have done that, but I hope by you looking at that you can now pause and just reflect your own answers and make sure that those points were developed in that way.

And likewise for our cool down, we've got our four points there and you can see that that word so is standing out in each of those points.

To summarise, we've learned a lot today about warming up and cooling down.

Not only have we talked about the phases, but we've also looked at those benefits.

So for the warmup we've got those four phases remember? A pulse raiser, stretching, some skills-based practise and then that mental preparation.

Many, many benefits to that, but some of those we are just reminded of there.

That increase in body temperature pliability, that means that risk of injury is being reduced.

And we've got that chance to prepare psychologically.

Cool down slightly less phases, but really important phases, that gradual reduction intensity and then that static stretching.

And those benefits are very much about facilitating that removal of those waste products and preventing that not very pleasant feeling of DOMS, that delayed onset of muscle soreness.

Thank you so much for joining me today.

I hope that's been really useful going through all those different bits of information on warmup and cool down and I look forward to seeing you on the next lesson.