There are four basic myths that circulate about warming up before activities.  Time to blow those out of the water and get you on the right track.

Myth #1- Stretching is the best way to warm up before exercise

Fact #1-  Stretching is not optimal to warm up muscles before activity, especially involving weight lifting or strength training.  Stretching cold muscles reduces the strength of muscle contractions and increases the chance of pulling or tearing the muscle.  Light aerobic activity is the best way to warm up.

Myth #2- I don’t need to warm up

Fact # 2- Not warming up is one of the biggest mistakes you can make.  A proper warmup enhances the power of working muscles and improves the safety of the workout.

Myth #3- I don’t need to warm up my legs- I am on them all the time.

Fact #3- Your leg muscles are not challenged in the same way just by walking or every day movement.  Proper warmup increases circulation to your legs.  Gotta warm them up.

Myth #4- I don’t need to warm up if I’m exercising indoors

Fact #4- Light aerobic activity produces heat INSIDE your muscles.  The warmth of the TKD school or gym does very little to increase your internal temperatures.

Be sure to warm up those muscles prior to activity.  Stay safe my friends!

Had a real tough workout?  Want to maximize the benefit of that workout?  Here are a few quick tips to rebuild the muscle and get ready for your next workout.

• Drink a post-workout protein shake-  Look for a drink that  has a 2 to 1 ratio of carbs to protein.  This will get start up nutrients to your starving muscles to begin the recovery process.
• Use Cold Therapy-  It’s not pretty and not much fun, but cold therapy is one of the best ways to slow down inflammation and combat muscle and joint pain.  Some methods you could include:  (1) Ice Bags- put a bag of ice on your sore and painful areas right after the workout.  Ice for no longer than 20 minutes at a time with an hour between icings.  Don’t want to get frostbite. (2) Ice Bath- Fill your bath tub with cold water and ice.  Hop on in.  No more than 20 minutes in the ice bath.  (3) Ice Massage- Fill dixie cups with water and let them freeze.  Tear the top part of the cup off to leave a ice block.  Use this to rub around the sore area, little circles and don’t stop moving. (4) Cold Showers-  Make the water as cold as possible and enjoy.
• Use Heat Therapy- Great for reducing pain and inflammation.  Word of warning: Heat should NEVER be used on a acute injury. Some methods you could try (1) Hot packs- either moist heat or through an electric heating pad. (2) Hot Baths- Cold and hot baths have a great effect on recovery, but hot baths are much more comfortable.
• Take Naps- A quick 20 minute nap would do wonders for your physical and mental recovery.
• Sleep 8-10 hours a night.  when you sleep, your body recovers and is busy rebuilding the damage from the workout.  Without enough sleep, your body will not be fully repaired.
• Stretch on your off days- Stretching is a complex subject and will be covered in a future blog but basically, stretching is a great way to increase blood flow to muscles and improve your flexibility.

Training is only half of the equation.  Without proper recovery, you are missing out on the greatest benefit of working out- getting better.

Have you ever taken a class and after say, “Man, that was one tough class!” or “I cruised through that one”.  Often times, you can have the same workout with both effects.  There are always ways to make a class more difficult and therefore get more from your time in class:

• Increase your focus.  Apply yourself to have a high level of concentration on all your movements and techniques.
• Vary your repetition speed for exercises.  For example, when you are doing push ups, have each push take twice as long.  This will increase the amount of time that your muscle is under contraction and will give you a more difficult workout.
• In your patterns, do all of your stances at least two inches lower.  This will hit your legs and also helps with muscle memory teaching you to have deep stances.
• Wear your mouthpiece- this simple activity will tax you as you will have a restricted airflow.

The key to having a tough workout vs an easy workout is mainly in your attitude and determination.  Focus yourself to improve every day and you will improve.

Orthopedic surgeon Richard Herrick, MD, offers the following guidelines on interpreting some of the aches and pains that typically plague people in sports training.

• If it did not hurt before you started but it really hurts while you’re working out, something is wrong.  Stop what you’re doing immediately.  See a sports medicine professional.
• If it did not hurt while you were training but it hurts hours or days later, chances are it isn’t a significant problem and can be rehabbed using simple home methods.
• If it hurts when you touch it but not when you use it, it is usually nothing serious.
• If it hurts while you are using it but it’s a dull ache rather than an acute pain, it probably isn’t severe.
• If it hurts a little during the day but gets worse at night, you probably need instruction on how to rehab it.
• If it has minor swelling and only feint tenderness, it’s usually something mild.
• If it has significant swelling, assume it’s major until proven otherwise.
• It it snaps, clicks, or pops while you are training but there’s no pain associated with the sound, don’t worry about it.
• If it interferes with your sleep three or four nights in a row, it needs to be investigated.
• If it gets better while you’re working out, its probably nothing serious.