What Happens When You Skip Your Warm Up & Cool Down

More fun and details are in the video, but if you want the Coles Notes version, here ya go:

Warming up helps prepare your body for your workout. So, a good warmup will gradually rev up your cardiovascular system by raising your body temperature and increasing blood flow to your muscles. This, in turn, will help you train harder and for longer during your workout.

Skip the warm up and you run the risk of injuring yourself, decreasing your performance, and you will also set yourself up for sore(er) muscles the next day.

The best warm up drills are movement based…. so no static stretching for a warm up please.

Instead do arm circles, bodyweight squats, push ups, a light jog or brisk walk. Aim for 5-10 minutes before every workout for a happy, injury-free body while training

As for cooling down after your workout, a proper cool down allows for a gradual recovery of pre-exercise heart rate and blood pressure. So, it’s a safe way (for the heart especially) to complete your workout.

This is also the best time to hold those static stretches you were thinking of doing in your warm up.