Lesson video

Hi, everybody.

Welcome to today's lesson.

I'm Mrs. Brooks, and today I'm gonna be teaching you about warmup and cool down.

I suspect you've heard those words lots.

Whether that's when you were in PE in key stage three, or in your PE lessons, or if you play sport, or you do exercise.

I imagine you are encouraged in all those occasions to do a warmup at the start of the session and a cool down at the very end.

But if you were asked to kind of describe what one looked like and how you did it correctly, would you be able to do that? And would you be able to then describe the benefits, the reasons why you are being asked to do that warmup and cool down? In today's lesson, we're gonna do exactly that together.

We're gonna be able to explain the correct phases of both a warmup and a cool down, and then be able to describe it with lots of detail, 'cause there are many, of those physical benefits of doing both of those things.

Now, our key words are all linked very much to that warmup and that cool down.

We're also gonna look at what we mean by pulse raising.

We'll speak about stretching frequently, and I suspect at times we'll mention lactic acid.

Now you may wanna pause the recording at this point and take a note of those keywords, but we will be going through them in quite a bit of detail as we move through the lesson.

Now we're gonna break the lesson up into three parts.

The first part is where we'll focus very much on the warmup and the phases of an effective warmup.

Then we'll duplicate that and look at a cool down.

And then once we're confident with those two things, we can start to look at those physical benefits.

So let's get started on the warmup part of the lesson.

Now I'm gonna introduce you to Laura.

Laura is actually helping coach and support her football team, and she's been asked to plan a warmup for the team.

Now, she's kinda doing a little bit of research, and she realises that jogging, dishes and domes, and tag games are something that she's read about that's a good thing to do.

Now what do you think they all have in common? Now the reason she's sharing these with us are these are activities that Laura can do as the first phase of the warmup.

By that, we mean that's a pulse raising activity.

So that is something where there is an opportunity to probably have a little bit of fun but gradually increase the heart rate or gradually increase the pulse.

So for something like dishes and domes, you can see we've got lots of those flat markers there in the image.

If you are gonna play dishes and domes, what you would do is some of those cones in a marked area would be facing upwards, and then some would be facing downwards.

Look a bit like a dish or a bowl.

And the idea is you get everyone to compete, and some of them will be trying to turn them one way and the other one will be trying to turn 'em the other way, almost like I have two teams. I'm sure you're listening to that and thought, "Yeah, I've done that at that point." And what you're doing is you're running around lots, you're having a bit of fun, but that heart rate is given that opportunity to increase, and there'll be lots of reasons why that heart is then sending this blood and this oxygen around the body.

So that is our example of a gradual increase in the heart rate and getting that blood flow to those working muscles.

Now, following that, now that you've got that oxygen flow into the muscles and they're feeling much warmer, you then would be encouraged to do phase two, which is where you do some mobility exercises, and that's why you're just giving your joints chance to increase the range of movement.

So like this student here, if we were to just stand now with our arms out like he's doing, we could just make I suppose initially just little circles but then those circles can become bigger.

Okay, and then we're almost doing this really big, almost drawing a circle with our our arms. And that's really kind of increasing that range of motion or movement, our shoulder joint, and we refer to them as mobility exercises.

Likewise, this individual here is just bringing that hip or flexing that hip and bringing that knee upwards, and then bringing it back down, and then going onto the other leg.

Sometimes people do that quite quickly as they move.

Sometimes people just do them slowly and really drive that leg forward and keep alternating those legs, again getting that hip joint mobile.

So quick checkpoint at this point.

Is sprinting a suitable activity for phase one of a warmup? Do we think that's true or false? I completely agree, that's false.

We would never want to do sprinting right at the start 'cause our body's not ready to do so.

So it is really important that that phase one includes an activity that we can have a little bit of fun, but it's really about gradually increasing that heart rate, and sprinting is too intense for that, and it's not advised as a pulse raising activity.

And actually can lead you to feel quite fatigued if you do so.

So onto phase three, then as we've got our joints nice and warm, we can do some stretching.

I'm sure you've all had a go or you've been encouraged to stretch as part of a warmup.

So you won't be surprised of some of these examples here on the screen of that upper body and the stretching of those arms and those muscles that exist in the torso.

And likewise, really common stretches there in terms of the lower body.

We can see one with the gastrocnemius, that muscle at the back of the lower leg, the hamstring, and the quadriceps, all of which are very important that they're stretched before we take part in activity.

And in all these cases, you can see these people are doing it as a static stretch.

So they're holding a position to lengthen the muscle, and they can do that now 'cause often that muscle will be nice and warm 'cause the pulse raising activity has allowed that blood flow to go to the muscles.

And once they're nice and warm and their oxygen's there, they can be lengthened.

So the muscles are ready for exercise.

Now, that's a nice lead into phase four because once we've got that muscle lengthened through that static stretch, we're then encouraged to do some dynamic movements.

So let look at this image here.

This is one we just saw on the previous slide, and that is a quite common stretch for those hamstrings, that muscle group in the back of the upper thigh.

Now, if we were to turn that into a dynamic movement.

Look at our GCSE student here.

So you can see she's doing that same stretch, but she's encouraging it by reaching down and reaching up again, and also involving a walk in between.

So that stretch has now got a dynamic element involved to it.

She's actually doing some movements as well as allowing that stretch to take place.

You could try a lunge like this person here.

So you would start with your feet together, you would step forward into that lunge position, and you can see then she's also then twisted her upper body, and we often refer to them as walking lunges.

And they're another really good example of a dynamic movement, and the kind of movement you would be doing at this part of a warmup.

So that phase four remember is those dynamic movements.

So Laura's learning a lot at this point.

So she's recognising that that stretching is there, but involving that active movements, and that is really 'cause you're taking those muscles and those joints through their full range of motion.

And you can do, 'cause you've already made the mobile, and you've also given 'em a bit of a stretch.

So she's asking, "Have you completed dynamic movements?" And this might be an opportunity to just pause and have a real reflection and think, "Can I think of some of those dynamic exercises I've done as part of a warmup when I've been involved in a warmup routine." Now to finish with, there are five phases.

So that last phase, sorry, phase five, is all based around skill rehearsal.

So Laura is saying, "Is this the time when she might, in her instance, 'cause she's doing football, she might get the footballs out and do some skills-based practises?" And that is exactly true.

So this would be, at this point where you might do some passing, some dribbling, or some shooting, those skills that are really associated with that sport.

And what you're doing is you're getting your body used to those movements 'cause they're just about to do them in numerous amounts as they train or play.

And actually, in some cases, it really helps get the brain switched on.

So you've got that coordination and you're actually ready for the movements you're about to use.

So that's known as that skill rehearsal.

So let's put this in the context of another sport.

Here we have some handball students.

They've completed their pulse raising, so phase one.

They will have done some of that mobility, they will have done their stretching, both static and dynamic, and they're now practising shooting.

Now, as handball players, all players or mostly all players can shoot.

So it makes sense that they do some of that type of movement, that of skill.

So they're preparing their body for those relevant movements.

But quite rightly so.

Would a goalkeeper be practising shooting too? Yeah, absolutely.

They don't need to do that skill rehearsal 'cause they can't shoot, but I imagine, at this point, the goalkeeper is actually having the opportunity to save some of these shots.

So also then having the opportunity to rehearse the skills that they will be using ready for the game or training session.

So Laura's gonna talk us through some of her warmup plan, and we need to work out which of these is actually phase four of her warmup.

So she says that as part of her plan she gets the group to complete 10 passes on each foot.

She also gets them to play bib tag 'cause apparently they really enjoy that.

And then she also gets them to do some walking lunges to focus on that lower body and those muscles, particularly in the upper thigh area.

Five seconds.

Which one do you think is phase four of a warmup? Awesome.

Well done.

It's actually this last one, and they are those examples of those dynamic movements.

That was our phase four.

Just out of interest, did you work out that A is that skill rehearsal? So phase five.

And that middle one, that bib tag, is actually the pulse raising activity, that activity to gradually increase the heart rate.

So that takes us onto our first task, and we've been talking about football, but now we're gonna talk about hockey, and they're requesting a warmup plan.

So we would like you to, one, could you outline those five phases of an effective warmup? And then two, just describe what is happening in each of those phases.

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

Welcome back.

How did you get on? For your five phases, did you put them in this order? So we've got pulse raising, mobility, stretching, dynamic movements, and then finally that skill rehearsal.

And in terms of those descriptions, briefly, that first one is about increasing gradually that heart rate.

Then it's about making that increased range of movement when you do the mobility exercises.

Because they're nice and warm, the muscles, at this point, you can then do that static stretching to lengthen the muscles, then develop that into those dynamic movements.

So you are really activating those muscles that are about to contract.

And finally, some kind of skills based practise to rehearse those movements.

So in hockey, 'cause that was what the request had been, that could be really simply some dribbling and some passing.

Okay, let's go onto part two where we will follow a similar kind of format, but now we'll look at those phases of an effective cool down, so that period of time at the end of a training session or the end of a competition.

It is important that Laura does this.

She needs to plan a cool down for her football team, and she's been really open and honest here that, at the end of the game, she personally prefers to get home quickly 'cause she's hungry, and she doesn't understand why we're now saying to her, "No, no, no, it's important that you do a cool down." And really what we need to be saying to Laura is she can't just stop, and there needs to be, in the first phase, there needs to be some low intensity exercise.

And what that does is that means that the heart rate and the breathing rate are maintained or they stay a little bit elevated.

We don't just suddenly stop.

So we refer to phase one as that low intensity exercise.

And as I just acknowledged there, they can't suddenly stop, and Laura is saying, "Well, why not?" Now if you do suddenly stop and then you've got nothing that's allowing that blood to continue moving around the body and getting back to the heart, it can lead to blood pooling, which is essentially where the blood pools in the blood vessels.

And often if that then just means there's a little bit of a disturbance in oxygen moving around the body, particularly to the brain, and that can then make you feel a little bit dizzy, and we don't want that to happen.

So activities such as maybe a five minute jog or where you start as a jog, and then you reduce down to a walk is really important in that phase one.

So that heart rate, that breathing rate do just decrease gradually, and you're still taking in that oxygen to allow the body to recover.

So of these following activities, jogging, walking, jumping, or light pedalling, which of them do you think is not suitable for phase one of a cool down? Really well done.

We would not be encouraging jumping.

It might be that it's a sport where that jumping has happened lots.

When you get to the cool down, you need to recover from that jump, and that might be where you might do some jogging, some walking, or if you've got the option of using a bike or a static bike, you can do some of that light pedalling, all of which will just allow that heart rate and that breathing rate to remain elevated whilst the body recovers.

Now, there are only two phases of cool down, whereas we had five for a warmup.

So phase two is where we would revisit that stretching.

So just to show you some examples here, we've got one there in terms of that gastrocnemius stretch or maybe even stretching the inner thigh there.

This one's quite a common one to do where you're really stretching those muscles in the back of the leg, but also it might help at the lower back too.

And this one where you just might move those knees to one side and hold that, keeping those arms flat on the ground, and that really just stretch a lot of those body parts.

So we're holding that position.

This is a static.

And we can do because the muscles at this point are really warm because they've already been, they've already gone through their activity.

So at this point in phase two, it's really common that those stretches will be held a little bit longer than we would do in a warmup.

So Laura is saying, "Okay, well, how long?" now there's not an exact amount, but often.

So for example, a stretch like this, which I imagine a lot of you've done to stretch that front of the thigh, those quadriceps, in a cool down, it might be very common to hold that for about 10 to 30 seconds, and you're able to do that because that muscle has been used quite frequently.

So not only do we want to lengthen it and allow it to recover, it can also help with improving flexibility 'cause the muscles are already warm and it's a good opportunity to do so.

So you might wanna pause at this point and just remind yourself or remind each other of some other static stretches you might be familiar with or you might just wanna revisit our first part of our learning cycle and see which of those static stretches you can remember.

But the key at this point of a cool down is you will have the opportunity to hold them for a little bit longer.

Now, is this true or false? Would we complete dynamic movements in a cool down? Five seconds to decide.

I agree that's false.

We wouldn't use those dynamic movements at this point.

They are very much more associated with a warmup as it's very much about activating that muscle contraction before it's about to be used either for training or for that sport.

In a cool down, remember the muscles are already warm, they're already pliable, which is a word we use for that increase in muscle temperature, so that static stretching is advised, and that means we can hold them for a little bit longer.

Now that's a really nice linking to our second task and the first part where we've looked at lots of different phases so far today, and I just want us to make sure that we know which of those are linked to a warmup, and which of those are linked to a cool down.

So your first part of your task is to identify exactly that.

And then once you've done that, we're gonna now look at a rowing team, and the rowing team are asking us about an effective cool down.

Could we outline, like we did for the hockey team, the two phases of an effective cool down? And then for each of those phases, just describe to the rowing team what the activity involves.

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

Welcome back.

So the first part of our task, a lot of these were linked to the warmup, but we can see that static stretching could be both.

And for walking, that is more of an activity that we would associate with that phase one of a cool down, that low intensity exercise.

So hopefully your answers align with this one here.

In terms of our rowing team, those two phases were low intensity exercise and then stretching.

And then did you build on that to describe that in that first instance it could be jogging, walking? It could either they stay in the boat and just do some gentle rowing.

Either way, they're maintaining that breathing rate and their heart rate.

And then that second stage is showing them that you can hold that stretch to help with flexibility as well as recovery up to 30 seconds.

So now we know our phases of both a warmup and a cool down.

We need to be able to explain the physical benefits of both.

Now, Laura's kind of aligning with us here and realising she now understands the warmup and cool down routine, but why should she bother? How is she gonna sell them to her team because there are gonna be times where maybe she is leading that activity and they're gonna want to know why? So we're gonna help her with that.

So we've got three images here just to get us started, and each of them is a benefit of a warmup.

Now, which of which benefit do you think they are likely representing? So did you think that that first image was that link to injury? So we can see it looks like there's a sprained ankle in that image, and a lot of what we do in that warmup is very much about mitigating the risk and preventing injury.

We spoke about that mobility exercise, the stretching.

So a real benefit there is you get that increased range of movement at your joints, and we are gonna get a little bit warmer, and our muscles are gonna get warmer, and that's a good thing 'cause then they're less likely to tear or sprain.

So to make this a little bit more easier to understand, we're gonna talk about first the benefits of the muscular system.

And what a nice image there 'cause we can see those muscles have been activated in that image to maybe catch a ball or throw a ball.

So there's that suggestion that those muscles will have had some kind of benefit from the warmup so that that movement can be done safely.

And one of the key things here is definitely that temperature and that warmth.

So you get not only your muscles but your ligaments and tendons.

Remember ligaments attach bone to bone, tendons attach muscle to bone.

They all become warmer and they become more pliable.

And when they're more pliable, they're less likely to strain or tear.

So you are mitigating that risk of getting injured, and those injuries are not very nice when they happen and can be quite hard to then recover from.

So we're trying to stop that.

As well as that because those muscles nice and warm, they're gonna become more flexible, so you do get that increased flexibility of the muscles, you get a bigger range of movement, and that's the same at the joints.

They become more mobile, they become less stiff, so you are a bit freer in your movement, your muscle efficiency is increased.

The muscles are ready.

They're ready to be activated.

So when you do start the actual activity, you're getting the speed of muscle contraction that you wanted, and you aren't almost like a car.

You're not waiting for your car to start ticking over.

It's kind of it's good and ready to go.

Because of that increase in heart rate, you have got that more oxygenated blood flow into those working muscles.

And we recognise oxygen is when we work aerobically, and we want to work aerobically 'cause when we work anaerobically, we can get that buildup of lactic acid.

So the benefit of the warmup is exactly that.

You give the opportunity the muscles to respire aerobically.

So now we're gonna look at those benefits of the warmup, but this time for the cardio and the respiratory system.

So by that, we mean the heart, the lungs, and the blood vessels.

Now we have spoke already in terms of, about that increase in heart rate when that pulse raising activity.

So that's a real benefit of doing a warmup, and often that is because you get that release of adrenaline.

But that increase in heart rate is a positive thing as we've just looked in that previous slide because of how it encourages more blood to flow to the working muscles.

We do also get that increase in oxygen uptake, so we start to breathe in more, and that means it gives us more oxygen for a faster gaseous exchange.

So the oxygen is moving quicker from the lungs into the blood.

Our blood vessels remember are part of this system and those leading towards the muscles are gonna vasodilate.

So we'll recognise that term in terms of widening to have an increase in blood flow.

And to inactive areas, so areas that you're not using while you're exercising, you can get vasoconstriction, and that's when the vessels will get narrower, and that restricts blood flow, but that's a positive 'cause that means that more blood is then flowing to the working muscles 'cause that's the area of the body that needs it.

So we have three individuals here that are describing a benefit of a warmup, and we need to work out which one is a muscular benefit.

So Andeep is saying that he was able to jump higher after his pulses raising and stretch.

Izzy was saying that she was monitoring her heart rate and she recognised that her pulse was getting higher, and Sofia was saying, "I am taking in more oxygen, and that means that I'm gonna have an increased blood flow to the active areas." Five seconds to decide, which one is a muscular benefit? Well done.

It is in fact Andeep because, as a result of that pulse raising and that stretch, those muscles are gonna be more activated and probably mean he is gonna be able to jump higher.

Whereas Izzy and both Sofia are talking about benefits there of that cardiorespiratory system.

So now we've looked at those benefits of a warmup.

Laura is saying, "Well what do you think, Sofia, are the benefits of effective cool down?" Now, Sofia's thinking it must be similar to a warmup.

Is it about injury prevention and is it also about that recovery of the body so it doesn't feel sore? And sometimes our muscles go through some micro tears.

In most cases, that's normal.

That's how they adapt, and they change, and they get better, but that can also lead sometimes to some soreness.

So to support what Sofia was saying there, there are many benefits of a cool down, and one of them is flushing the muscles with that oxygenated blood, and that means that those marketeers are giving that opportunity to recover, and we're also giving the body chance to remove waste products, particularly lactic acid.

That is really built in our muscles in the absence of oxygen.

So we don't want it in there 'cause it can lead to soreness and cramp.

And if it does stay in there, your muscles can become sore, and often it takes a day or two for that to happen.

And if we remove it, then you're not getting that delay of muscle soreness, and we actually refer that to DOMS, delayed onset of muscle soreness.

And a cool down benefit is very much to reduce the likelihood of that.

In terms of that cardiorespiratory, you're gonna maintain that breathing rate, and that's a positive thing 'cause you're trying to get rid of that carbon dioxide.

There will be extra carbon dioxide because you've been exercising.

You're trying to gradually lower that heart rate but also that muscle temperature.

And we've got that aid of recovery by stretching, but remember also that chance to increase flexibility as well.

'cause the muscles are nice and warm, and really the massive benefit about all this is you're returning the body gradually to that pre-exercise state.

And we did say to Laura earlier, didn't we, about stopping that blood pooling 'cause that can be not very pleasant and make you feel a bit faint and dizzy.

So we've got four benefits here, which of them is a benefit of a cool down? Well done if you notice B and D.

So we've got that reduction in muscle soreness and also that expelling that extra carbon dioxide.

The other two, that coordination and that vasodilation, are actual physical benefits of a warmup.

Now we mentioned DOMS, and that can be a cool down really reduces the likelihood of that.

What's our correct meaning of DOMS? Well done, it is C.

It's that delayed onset of muscle soreness, not muscle stiffness, and not that delayed feelings.

It's that onset of muscle soreness.

So to take us into a final task of the lesson, we would like you to explain three reasons why you warm up and three reasons why you cool down.

And we're gonna link it in this instance to a table tennis player.

Just be aware there that we've used the word explain.

So you would need to develop those reasons and be really clear in terms of why that would be important for our table tennis player.

Pause the recording and come back to me when you finished.

So we did acknowledge that there are multiple benefits.

So you may have chosen slightly different ones to what I'm about to feedback on.

But what all of these three points do is they're developed points.

So they mention a benefit, but then they say that why that's important for our table tennis player.

So you see here we've got that increased pliability, so they're less likely to tear.

More oxygenated blood flow into the muscles, and we linked that, didn't we, to that aerobic respiration, which as a table tennis player you want to be at at the start of the game so you don't get that buildup of lactic acid.

And I imagine needing that full mobility, that full range of movement at the shoulder joint.

So right from the start, you're able to reach those shots if they get put in a position where you have to stretch and reach far.

So we've got three nice developed points there for the warmup.

And the cool down, we're gonna do the same thing.

We have to acknowledge that removal of lactic acid, but develop that so then you don't feel that muscle soreness breathing rate is maintained, and that's very much about expelling that excess carbon dioxide.

And finally, that stretching to increase that range of movement, so we might get an enhanced flexibility, but also that the body can recover gradually.

So to summarise, an effective warmup, remember, that was five phases.

We looked at the pulse raising, mobility, stretching, dynamic movements, and then concluding with some skill rehearsal.

So many benefits, but we've just captured a few there in terms of that increased temperature, that pliability of the muscles, the tendons, the ligaments, and that's all very much about mitigating risk and reducing the likelihood of an injury, and preparing that body for the activity they're just about to undertake.

And for a cool down, we had less phases.

It was just two.

First phase is that low intensity exercise.

And then secondly, doing that static stretching.

And those benefits are very much about that transition, so to get the body back to how it was before the exercise, but do that gradually.

And in doing so, kind of remove some of those waste products that have been developed as a result of exercise, getting rid of that lactic acid predominantly so then you don't have that muscle soreness and that stiffness the next day.

I've really enjoyed talking to you all about warmup and cool down, and hope you feel much more confident about not only the phases but the benefits, and I look forward to working with you on the next lesson.