Do I Have To? On Warming Up, Cooling Down and Stretching

There are lots of virtuous angels out there who don't just do some form of cardio and strength training, but are also religious about always warming up, cooling down, and gently stretching their various hard-working body parts.

Others may think all that sounds like a very good idea, and do it sometimes... while frequently blowing it off and just feeling guilty about it instead.

And then there is a third camp--those who just jump in cold, exercise as hard and as long as seems warranted, and then... screeech! ... come to a complete stop when they feel done. They then head straight for the shower, or more stinkily, back into their cars or jobs or lives, without doing any of that sissy in-between stuff that makes exercise take so much longer without really "counting" as exercise.

I've generally been in the second group, the guilty-semi-slackers, though as I've gotten older I've been getting closer to the first angelic-anal-compulsive category. So I was all prepared to jump right in with some tips about how to become better about doing all that stuff.

But, I figured first I better warm up with a little research, just to be able to scare you with a good list of Horrible Consequences that might ensue if you skip these pre and post workout rituals.

And guess what?  Well... crap!  Turns out it's all more complicated than I thought. I had to really stretch to reconcile my discoveries with the "expert" advice I've been reading for decades.  How annoying! But then I cooled down a bit and decided I did not actually need to report every damn conflicting research study or expert opinion on the matter. Reading and then ignoring research is something of a specialty here at Cranky Fitness.

(Especially since for some reason the malevolent blogger platform has recently been refusing to save my drafts, but passively-aggressively failing to tell me that before I innocently shut down the computer to go raid the refrigerator. So I'm now starting this over for the third f--cking time and hunting down the links all over again. Grrr.)

Anyway, here is some of the shocking information I discovered about stretching, warming up, and cooling down, as well as some thoughts on doing or not doing them.

Six Things to Do For Your Health While Waiting Around

So there's a new site for women called Lemondrop, and I got recently got a friendly email about it. On discovering it was backed by AOL, a mainstream media conglomerate, I figured, well... hmm. They've no doubt got lots of information, but it's probably all wholesome and cheerful and cautiously corporate, right? After all, when greeting a new enterprise or situation, Crabby McSlacker is not generally known for her soaring optimism.

But I wandered over anyway to see if there there were any any ideas for blog posts I could steal breaking health news items I should alert folks to... and guess what?

It's fun! They include plenty of snark, sleaze, and "real life" along with the usual beauty and fashion and lifestyle and entertainment stuff. A couple posts that caught my eye: "My 'Thing' for Asians (and Why It's Not As Creepy As It Sounds)" and "FaceBook Friends Who Suck."

And, bonus: while I was over there poking around anyway, I did indeed find a blog post idea to steal! It was: Six Brilliant Things to Do While You're On Hold Or Waiting In Line. Which I thought was a great concept, because who doesn't hate wasting time while you're on hold or waiting in line? Well, unless you really enjoy hearing that eight repetition of the Muzak'ed version of Van Morrisons's "Moondance."

Fortunately for me, the Lemondrop suggestions weren't specific to health. (One, for example: "Write catch-up e-mails to long-lost roommates and neglected relatives.") So I feel almost justified in re-purposing the concept for Cranky Fitness, because we're a health and fitness blog! Er... sometimes.

As usual I'm sure you all can come up with better health tips than mine for when you're stuck waiting for something--that's why I love the comment section! But here are a few to start with:

1. Work on balance training. Our pal Mizfit had an informative and very depressing post on how to test your balance. And, well, judging by my results, I should not be permitted outdoors unless I am wearing body padding and a crash helmet.

So, depending on how much privacy you have or how much you give a crap what other people think of you: close your eyes, raise one leg off the ground, and start teetering!

Bonus points if you grab your ankle behind you like this shirtless man is doing. Then you can get credit for a quad stretch as well as balance training!

2. Practice your deep breathing. You can lower your blood pressure, decrease stress, and trigger your body's "relaxation response." Formulations vary for how many counts to breathe in, hold, and breathe out, or whether to even count at all. (Here's one guide to deep breathing; Dr. Weil has other advice. Just google and you can find one you like. I personally like to inhale longer than most experts suggest, so rather than take the hint I just kept looking until I found guidelines I liked better.)

3. Stretch! Again, if no one's watching or you don't care: try some side stretches, or quad stretches, or maybe bend down straight-legged and touch your toes for a hamstring stretch--if you don't have back problems. If you do, this might aggravate them. It's the old fashioned way to do a hamstring stretch but it's also the least conspicuous as you can pretend you're tying your shoes. Other possibilities: neck stretches, calf stretches or shoulder stretches. Heck, loosen up whatever seems tight. (Unless it's a coworker, in which case discretion is advised).

4. Strength train! You can do calf raises, squats or lunges,and if you have a hands-free phone, maybe even push-ups, jumping jacks, or burpees. (But if you don't have a private office or if you're standing in line at the bank, these may get you a few funny looks.) If you are in public and don't want to make a spectacle of yourself, you may feel more comfortable contracting your abs, working on your posture to correct that slouch, or doing kegels.

5. Plan healthy things! Could be meal planning for the week, grocery lists, when/where/what you'll do for exercise... often having a firm plan in mind keeps you from reaching the end of the week in an unexercised state because there was never "a good time", or from wandering the grocery store aisles in a dazed state and mysteriously ending up with a bunch of ice cream and power bars and frozen dinners in your basket but no ingredients for a healthy meal.

6. Go through the archives of Cranky Fitness for some more health tips! Yes, if you've got a computer or other web browser handy, just gradually make your way back, one post at a time, to when we first started the blog! Which as I recall was sometime in the Eighteenth Century. Gosh it was tough; we wrote our first posts by candlelight with quill pens and had them delivered by Pony Express.

(Some of our old favorites: "New miracle cure for scurvy: it's fruit! Orange you glad we didn't say castor oil?" And of course: "Scour Your Socks, Prevent the Pox!" Or who can forget: "Don't You Hate it When Your Bodily Humours are Out of Balance? Leeches Leave us Speechless!")

Ah, good times.

Townsfolk eagerly awaiting arrival of the
latest "Crankey Fitness" Dispatch
(photo:bill barber)

So what do you folks do to make use of wasted time on hold or waiting in line?

Fitness "Bargains"

[By Crabby]
This is not about financial "bargains," although I'm sure you readers have some awesome suggestions for fitness activities and/or gear that could save us a lot of cash. A future post perhaps?

No, this time by "bargain," I mean: Ways To Get Better Fitness Results for The Same Effort. Or, how to get the Same Results Quicker, or With Somewhat Less Misery. Whatever.

We all look for those "bargains," right? Because unless you love every aspect of working out and have unlimited time, there's usually a trade-off. You don't typically get something for nothing.

In fact, there's kind of a math to it:

(Photo: A.A.)

Eeeek, math!!!

Actually, no need to panic, not that much math. In fact the formula is quite simple:

Results = (Time Spent Exercising) x (Intensity); where Intensity=Miserableness.

At least that's how that generally works for me. I get better results if I exercise longer or exercise harder; the more I loaf and slack and leave early, the less muscle I build, the less endurance I have, and the fewer calories I burn.

But then there are weird exceptions to the normal math! Sometimes (Miserable) + (Miserable) = 1.5(Miserable); not 2(Miserable), as you'd expect.

Exploiting these mathematical anomalies is often the key to a fitness bargain.

(Note: And speaking of equations that don't add up: check out how sometimes 0+0=2 at The Hungry Little Caterpillar. A great reminder for overly optimistic Weight Watchers).

What? You Call That a Bargain??!!

(Photo: Zabowski)

Ever go to a place like Costco and bring home four gallons of extra virgin olive oil for the price you'd normally pay for 1 gallon? You feel so clever and thrifty until you remember that you can't get through more than one gallon anyway before the stuff goes rancid. Whoops!

Likewise with with fitness bargains. Some tips that sound great in theory will suck when you actually try them out. They might get you in shape faster, but if they turn your workout from a pleasant or only mildly dreary experience into absolute torture, then these bargains aren't worth it.

This means that you need to hear about a lot of tricks and find out which ones work for you.

And since I only have a few that reliably work for me, and long-time readers have heard all these already... I'm hoping some of our clever and knowledgeable commenters will add theirs below!

Especially since I'm going to concentrate on tips that begin with the letter C, for absolutely no reason at all except that the first couple did and I thought I'd make it a thing.

Oh Boy, It's a "C" Thing.
(photo: cobalt123)

And again, these are some of my favorites--can't wait to hear yours.


1. Combined Stretches

Does anyone else invent their own stretches that combine a couple of things at once? I know yoga people do combinations, but theirs are elegant and tend to take a long time. Mine are home-made and doofy-looking and quick.

Here's just one example: the stairway/doorway shoulder and calf stretch. Note: doesn't work if you live in one story house or don't have a doorway at the top or bottom of the stairs.

Position yourself on the top or bottom step of your stairway, facing upstairs. Put out your arms and grab the doorway on each side and lean forward, so you're stretching your shoulders. Meanwhile, scooch your feet back a little so that you can lower your heels off the step and stretch your calves at the same time. WARNING: if you're doing this at the top, don't go scooch back too far or you'll tumble backwards down the entire flight of stairs and break your neck and this time-saver will be no bargain at all!


2. Caffeine & Cool Tunes

I talk about these all the time so I won't belabor it. But the pounding beat of a favorite song and good solid caffeine buzz really does give me more energy and I can go longer and harder and get more done for the same amount of subjective effort.


3. Circuit Training "Lite"

The standard version, wherein you proceed through a strength training workout fast enough to keep your heart rate in the aerobic zone throughout, is a classic, time-honored Workout Bargain. You get your cardio and your strength training all at the same time!

Slight problem: I loathe circuit training.

It is too much Miserableness all at once; thus, for me, no bargain.

However, back when I was lucky enough to have a home gym in the basement, I discovered I could do a little informal combining and I came up with a routine that saved some time but that I didn't hate.

This is taken pretty much verbatim from an older post, but we all know that recycling is good for the environment, right?

It's Good to be Green!

Here's how you do Circuit Training Lite:

At some point in your cardio workout, get off your treadmill/bike/elliptical/whatever, but keep it running if it's motorized, and give yourself full credit for any time you're away from it. Since you're still going to be keeping your heart rate up, you get to count this time as though you were still doing cardio. Rush off and do a set of some strength-training exercise in a quick but not too half-assed manner, then hustle back to the machine again. Slog some more. Wait until you get totally bored with the cardio again, then jump off the machine and do a different strength training exercise.

It's two-for-one! (But, alas, this only works in a home gym or fairly deserted fitness facility. Abandoning your treadmill at a busy gym is NOT recommended).


4. Cutting Out Multiple Sets

One set of really heavy weights seems, for me, to do about 80-90% of the job that 3 sets does. So most of the time, I just do one. I save multiple sets for one exercise at a time, when I'm feeling especially motivated, but otherwise: screw it.


5. Chores

If you have a partner, particularly a male or stronger partner, it can be very tempting to delegate the "heavy" stuff that involves lifting or mowing or digging or schlepping to your mate. Or pay some cute yard dude to do it. But if you're lucky enough to have the time, how 'bout doing more of it yourself and giving yourself get exercise "credit" in a non-exercise context? If it's hard and physical, it counts!!!

Note: this is one of those tips I believe in but rarely do myself. I hate chores.


6. Commuting

Like doing chores, walking or biking to work (or on errands) is an efficient way to get exercise while actually getting something accomplished. Duh, right? Yet so few people who could walk or bike to work actually do. What's up with that? Some places are obviously too impractical, but I'm often amazed at what a minuscule number of Americans even think about leaving their cars at home. Then after work they drive to the gym so they can walk on a treadmill for an hour.


7. Cardio Intervals

Another great bargain--you can do incredible things for your body in less than twenty minutes. Downside: it's hard and that blows. But as many of you know, it doesn't have to be totally gruesome. There's a better way!

Think these are lame? Help me out with some better suggestions!

If we get a few good ones in the comments, I'll update this post later in the week and include a link to your blog or website, if you've got one.

UPDATE--Great Reader Suggestions!

Wow, some really helpful suggestions in the comments! Here are some, condensed and combined, but I can see now I may not get to them all. Better, fuller explanations are available down in the comments.

Theresa suggests doing push ups against the countertop while waiting for the tea to boil.

Tokaiangel is all about Running Up the Stairs.

KatieP suggests contracting ALL your muscles while doing strength training exercises, and standing on wobbly things to make it even harder.

Always the practical ones, Mary Anne in Kentucky and the Bag Lady suggest choosing strenuous occupations of the sort where you get a workout whether you want one or not.

Combining Exercises is a great idea! Jenn suggests squats with military presses or lunges with bicep curls.

Our very own Merry sensibly advises that you enlist a friendly canine as a workout partner, and Terrie Farley Moran suggests that Grandchildren also work well.

Circuit training is popular among those more energetic than the Crab. The Lethological Gourmet even has an Olympic Boot Camp circuit workout for you to try. And Mrs. Jelly Belly has an enthusiastic (and amusing) circuit training recommendation if you can track down the DVD by "Sunshine"-- it sounds great.

Geosomin does lunges in the lab, and takes the stairs two at a time instead of waiting for elevators. And another fan of gratuitous stair climbing is nolafwug, who thinks multi-tasking is overrated.

Liz Rosenbaum suggests squats while brushing your teeth. Similarly Sagan does calf raises while brushing her teeth, and jumping jacks/pushups while waiting for food to cook. And NewMe does calf raises while cooking and doing dishes.

Monica fixes her bike and gets exercise at the same time.

Grounded Fitness was too high on crack to offer specific exercise suggestions, but those yoga/pilates people seem to have the combining thing down pretty well already.

Katieo is trying to run faster, which is much more efficient if you can stand all the huffing and puffing! Likewise Mizfit, who often claims to be a cardio slacker, is nothing of the sort, as she combines regular cardio with HIIT.

Alexia shares a sincere appreciation of caffeine with the Crab.

POD suggests a pedometer and walking all over the place, as well as counter-top stretches.

Deb suggest something called a "Scuper-Scet" which sounds really freakin' hard like quite a workout. The full explanation is below, but it involves combining stable weight training exercises with a similar unstable ones until you're ready to die done.

Dragonmamma makes a great point about isolation exercises being inferior to exercises that work multiple muscles at once.

And the always creative Workout Mommy suggests "Child curls." (Just like bicep curls, but with a baby!).

Be sure to check the comments for more great fitness bargains as they come in!

When work conflicts with working out, what do you do?

[By Merry]

Them: No pressure, just get it done right away.
Me: Instead of the other 12 things I have to do asap?
Them: No, in addition to them. You don’t mind, do you?


Pop quiz:

Is the above a
a) scenario for assertiveness training?
b) nightmare that you hope to wake from in a couple of minutes?
c) way to make sure that you do not get any exercise today?


The answer is: d) what my day was looking like yesterday. Technical writers, even the most prepared and organized of them, live their lives to the rhythm of Forces Beyond Our Control.

So one week things are calm and fairly rational, I only work 40 hours, and it’s not that hard to fit in the exercising around the work day.

Other weeks I can chose two of the following three options:
1 – work
2 – sleep
3 – exercise

That’s when the fun really starts. (I keep telling myself it’s fun. Nothing wrong with a good healthy self-delusion.)

Best solutions that I've found so far to manage working and working out:

1 – Take five minute breaks during the day (at least one in the morning, one in the evening) to go up and down the stairs. Stairs get the heart rate moving real fast. Plus, if I present a moving target, it’s harder for people to grab me and say “hey, are those docs ready yet? Never mind if the product doesn’t work, just write the manual anyway. And make sure everything's accurate.”

2 – Take a whole 20 minutes to step outside at lunch and run away. (And come back, alas.) I can eat at my desk – I know it’s not the best way to go, but it beats not eating and it beats not exercising. A steady 20 lunchtime minutes of getting the blood pumping and the respiration even slightly elevated helps keep the stress down, too.

3 – Alternate days when I exercise and days when I just go home (after 12-15 hours) and sleep. If I’m too tired to eat in the evening, that’s better than skipping breakfast.

4 – Take ten minutes at the end of the day to breath and stretch and turn off the brain. Andrew Weil has a whole CD devoted to breathing exercises. They do work, when I have the patience to listen to them and practice them.

4a - Sometimes I’m so stressed I want to kick the calm, relaxing CD player across the room – I can’t relax, I’ve got too much to do! – but in that case I take ten minutes to pace on Manuel, my new treadmill.

I’m probably going to get banned from certain blog-feeds for saying this, but Manuel still needs lubricant before he’s really useful… okay, I can’t even type that without blushing. I suppose I will have to learn to stop referring to my exercise equipment by pet names.

But you probably have better ideas

So what do you do when you’re absolutely nose-to-the-grindstone crunched for time?

You get extra points if you can describe your exercise activities, if any, without using words such as ‘lubricant’ – Crabby has standards, even if I don’t.

_______________________________________
And yes, this is the last time we're going to mention the Lipton Tea Bike Contest. The contest ends tomorrow morning at 5:38 a.m. Oregon time (Pacific Daylight Time). That will be your last chance to leave a comment about how to stay young and win a bike! (And trust us, if we could find a way to have all of you win a bicycle, we would! Crabby and I both think you guys deserve lots of nice stuff like free bicycles.)

Stretching

[By Crabby]


Do you stretch?

If so, do you think it does you any good?

I've always been a big believer in stretching. It seems to help my back and knees and it's the least loathsome part of my exercise routine. But because I don't hate it, I do way less of it than I should.

Yes, I know--that makes no sense at all. But here's what happens:

I save stretching for the end of my workout. So if I'm the least bit rushed that day, I'll get to the stretching part and say to myself, "oh, you like stretching--you can just do that later, it will be fun!"

Then I almost never remember to do it later. Or if I do remember, it no longer sounds fun. Because later in the day I'm not comparing it to the treadmill or the leg press machine, I'm comparing it to eating dinner or checking up on my favorite blogs or watching Grey's Anatomy. Come evening, even bad TV beats good exercise.

We Interrupt This Post For a Special Note to The Yoga People:
You folks are hereby excused--unless you just want to hang out and make fun of the rest of us. You have the stretching thing totally down already. You can go back to your poses--Hungry Snake On a Mountain or Upside Down Duck Looking for Bugs or whatever.)

(Goodbye, Gratuitous Semi-Naked Yoga Guy!)

So here's what I've always heard about stretching:

If you don't want to end up tottering around on unbendable limbs like Frankenstein's monster, or shredding up your joints and tendons and cartilage and muscles when you participate in strenuous athletic endeavors such as surf-boarding or mountain climbing or running a marathon bending over to tie your shoes, then you have to stretch, right?

Stretching is one of those crucial, obligatory foundations of healthy living-- like drinking enough water, getting aerobic exercise, or starting your day with a nutritious breakfast.

Note: This is Not a Nutritious Breakfast

And stretching should happen after you've warmed up; you should breathe deeply rather than asphyxiate yourself; and you should hold the stretch without moving, (and particularly without bouncing) for at least 30 seconds.

So Here's What I'm Starting To Hear Now About Stretching:

Stretching Ain't All It's Cracked Up to Be:
Some research seems to say stretching doesn't actually prevent muscle soreness.

And static stretching (where you hold the stretch rather than move around), may even be counter-productive if you do it right before a competitive event. According to Greek researchers and That's Fit health bloggers, pre-exercise stretching can decrease muscle strength. (Longer than 30 seconds, strength decreased by 8.5 percent; more than 60 seconds led to decrease of 16 percent).

Apparently There is Such Thing as Dynamic Stretching:
There are perfectly good stretches that involve moving around, instead of just holding your position and cursing. In fact, dynamic stretching seems like a better idea if you're the competitive sort and want to stretch right before a race or something.

To get you started, here are a few sample dynamic stretches. In addition there is always the popular "supine couch stretch" in which one tries to simultaneously reach for the remote with one hand while balancing a pint of Ben & Jerry's on the stomach and attempting to pet the cat with the other hand--a stretch that Cranky Fitness doesn't exactly recommend, but we do acknowledge that it's more fun than the other kind.

What You Should Stretch and When You Should Stretch Is Actually Kinda Complicated.
According to our friend Mike Howard over at Diet Blog, stability is important as well as flexibility--so people who are too flexible can get injured as easily as those who are too tight.

He says relative flexibility is a key: often when one joint is too tight, the adjacent joint is too flexible. "The key is to try and stabilize what is too loose and release what is too tight." And that "asymmetry of flexibility is a more likely cause of injury than tightness..." for example, "if one hamstring muscle is far tighter than the other".

Well phooey. That sounds harder than just doing the same damn thing I've been doing for the last 30 years, whenever I actually remember to do it. And how do you know if you're asymmetrical and you're stretching the right things? Anyone know?

But the Nice Old-Fashioned Authorities on Health Still Seem to think the Boring Old Kind of Stretching Is Just Peachy.

Mayo Clinic, for example, says stretching can increase flexibility and range of motion, improve circulation, relieve stress, reduce injury, and improve posture. And their how-to-stretch slide show features the usual suspects--those static stretches you've seen everywhere for the last 20 years or so. If they're good enough for Mayo, maybe they're good enough for me?

So What Are Crabby's Thoughts and Observations About Stretching And All this Research?

I thought you'd never ask!

1. Do static stretching (the regular, non-moving kind) after your work-out, not before. (But, for heaven's sake, I've been hearing this for years and years now! Why are all the studies dissing stretching, then talking about the pre-exercise kind?)

2. Dynamic stretching is an interesting idea and I may try to incorporate a little of it into my very haphazard stretching routine.

3. Research, smeesearch, you have to figure out what works for you. For most people I know, skipping out on the stretching means lower back pain and sore necks and tight calves and creaky knees and all-around crankiness. However, if you're young and lucky and flexible and it doesn't seem to make much difference whether you stretch or not, then the heck with it! And check out both static and dynamic stretching--you may want to do both or neither or one might work better than the other.

So what do you folks think about stretching? What do you actually do?