Welcome to the Get Fit Guys quick and dirty tips to shape up and slim down.

Say you're beginning a road trip and you hop in your car, pull it out of the garage,

and immediately floor the gas pedal, turn the air conditioning on high and turn the radio on full volume.

You maintain this same intensity

all the way to your final destination where you abruptly stop, exit your car, slam the door, and walk

away. As your abused car sits there steaming, crackling, and smelling of exhaust, would the thought

ever cross your mind that perhaps you should have slowly progressed into top speed, then given

your car a bit of easy driving after those intense highway speeds, your body is no different than

that car. Before you subject it to physical exertion, whether lifting weights, running, bicycling,

tennis, or golf, you must prepare your body for performance. And when you finish your physical exertion, you must give your body a gradual progression

from movement back to sitting in your car at your desk or on your couch.

So in this episode, you'll learn why to warm up and cool down before a workout

and the exact exercises, stretches, and intensities necessary for a proper warm-up

and cool down.

So why warm up and cool down before exercise anyways?

When you warm up, several positive adaptations take place within your body to prepare you

for exercise, including dilation of blood vessels. As your blood vessels dilate, or

get bigger, your heart doesn't have to work so hard to deliver blood, and you have less risk

of high blood pressure during exercise. Increased temperature. When you stretch a cold rubber band,

it can snap. The same is true of muscle. By warming your muscle tissue, you increase

muscle elasticity and range of motion and also allow your muscle to contract more efficiently

while reducing the risk of strains and poles. In addition, oxygen in warm blood becomes more readily

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