Warm up with Cardio, Cool down with Stretching

• Warm Up? Cool Down?
• Make a Plan
• Moving at the Office
  • Head-to-Toe Exercises for the Office
  • Face and Neck
  • Chest and Shoulders
  • Wrists
  • Spine
  • Knees
  • Legs and Ankles
  • Ankles and Feet
• References

PLAN to BREATHE

Start by bringing your body into the basic belly dance posture. Take a couple of deep breaths... As you are breathing, mentally scan your body to make sure that you are indeed in alignment and that no tension exists anywhere in the body... Direct your breath into your belly. Put one hand on your belly just below your belly button and one hand on your chest. The hand on your belly should rise every time you inhale. As you exhale, the belly should return to normal. The hand on your chest should always remain still. Practice this for ten minutes a day. After a month, you should notice that you are able to do this naturally at any time during the day without thinking about it.

As you move into your warm up movements, coordinate your breath with each movement so that you exhale on the extension (moving away from the body) and inhale on the contraction (moving toward the body). Keep the breath and the movements slow and smooth. If the extension takes five seconds, the contraction should take five seconds. Continue to coordinate breath with movement for a minimum of five minutes. If your warm up includes movements that hold, be sure to breathe through those movements. Never hold your breath. Including breath work in your warm up should decrease the amount of time it takes to fully warm up the body as efficient breathing increases vascular functioning without increasing your heart rate.

With just a few minutes a day of breath work, you could increase your energy level and power while reducing your stage fright.

WORK YOUR PLAN

1. Stretch five to seven times a week.
2. Do a warm up of 5-10 minutes before exercise and stretch afterwards to counteract tension and soreness.
3. Each stretch should last between 10 and 60 seconds. Control the stretch without bouncing.
4. Do not push past the point of discomfort. Stretching should not cause pain.
5. Visualize the muscles lengthening while you relax and breathe.

1. Five to seven servings of fresh fruits and vegetables daily will repair tissue damage.
2. Proper hydration before, during and after dancing.
3. Vary sessions to work different muscle groups or work them in different ways.
4. Cool down at the end of any dance session for a minimum of five minutes. Flexibility, stretching and yoga exercises are great cool-down exercises.
5. When doing flexibility work, hold stretches for 25 - 30 seconds. Avoid the short and static stretches that cause muscle tightness and tearing. Longer stretches allow the muscle to relax and give, and counteracts soreness from short, static work.
6. Be consistent in your exercise habits and stay in shape.

From a 2012 email from Hannan Sultan: "Every sixty minutes, move for sixty seconds. All waking hours, every day. One, swing your arms. Two, reach overhead. Three touch your toes. Four arch your back. You get the idea."

Melissa Stone writes: "I am a huge fan of stretching as an everyday practice, but I do not save my stretching for just before a dance performance or exercise program. I incorporate stretching before, during and after any activity where I will be doing a repetitive motion, sitting or standing for long periods of time and/or to give myself some rejuvenation during the day."

• Start in a comfortable sitting or standing position with good posture.
• Hold all stretches for 35 seconds or more.
• Melissa Stone recommends "breathing into" the stretching muscles; this is a visualization that helps to focus and to relax.

American Chiropractic Association:

• When standing, keep one foot slightly in front of the other, with knees slightly bent. This takes pressure off the lower back.
• When lifting: avoid twisting at ALL times, and you will avoid one of the most dangerous movements for your spine.
• Pushing is easier on the back than pulling.
• When sitting: keep knees slightly higher than hips, with head up and back straight. Avoid slouching.
• When picking up items from floor or table: kneel down or bend at knees to get close to the item. Do not bend at the waist.
• Carry heavy items as close to your body as possible. Two small objects are easier to handle than one large one.
• Lose the beer belly, and you lose unwanted pressure on muscles, ligaments and tendons in the lower back.

FACE and NECK

1. Circle around the clock, holding the stretch at 12, 3, 6 and 9 and breathing into the stretched muscles. Reverse.
2. Same movements, but with no pause between them. Roll slowly, creating a complete circle with the head and neck. Repeat many times, then change direction.
3. [Something to remember for bedtime: These circular exercises are also effective if done while lying down with head off the edge of the mattress.]
4. Know your face: Hold fingertips at various points in the face and move the muscles under the fingertips, feeling the various results.

Try Brain Wave Vibration:

1. Sit with your back straight and relax your neck and shoulders.
2. Close your eyes and move your head from side to side. When you first begin, move your head slowly.
3. When you feel the rhythm of your body, gradually increase the speed of your movement. There's no need to strain yourself to move too quickly.
4. After one to three minutes, stop and exhale deeply three times.

CHEST and SHOULDERS

1. Circle: lift shoulders up and draw them back and down. Repeat many times. Change direction.
2. Vertical and horizontal slides: Inhale while lifting up the shoulders; exhale while dropping them down, repeating several times. Then slide the shoulders forward and back, repeating many times.
3. Shoulder blades: Right arm across your chest. With left hand under right elbow, pull gently while breathing into the stretch at least 35 seconds. Repeat on other side.
4. Shoulders and sides: Inhale as you lift right arm overhead and exhale as you reach over towards the left shoulder. Repeat other side. Repeat many times.
5. Instead of stretching your back when it feels sore, unroll your shoulders and lift your chest while you are sitting, and then stretch your CHEST and strengthen your back (especially your upper back). A quick chest stretch; hold the right top corner of a door frame with your right hand and gently lean your weight over your toes. Switch sides and repeat.
6. To fight a rounded upper back: stand with legs shoulder width apart. Lean forward ninety degrees. Raise arms to be stretched out like airplane wings. Pretend there is a nut between your shoulder blades and, raising the arms, crack the nut. This opens the chest and strengthens the rounded back .

WRISTS

1. Circle: Extend arms outward at shoulder height, rotate your wrists to the right several times, then rotate wrists to the left. Rotate forward, rotate backwards.
2. Stretch: Right arm forward with palm front while the left hand pulls back on right fingertips for several seconds. Breathe into the stretch. Rotate right hand so palm faces you and press on the back of the right hand. Repeat on the other side.
3. Another wrist stretch: Standing at table or desk, point fingertips in towards your body and place them down on the surface facing you.
4. Figure-Eight: Arms outward with a soft fist. Rotate wrists in figure eight. Repeat many times and change direction.
5. Finger press: Steeple fingers, then spread them apart and press them against each other. Move your hands up and down, feeling the different pressures as you change position.
6. Finger extension: spread fingers as far as possible from each other.
7. Elbows up, back of hands facing each other with fingers dangling down: shake.

SPINE

1. Sitting or Standing Forward Bend: Inhale as you lift up from breast bone; exhale while rotating the hips forward, then fold forward to floor or toes. Hold the pose but not the breath and relax.
2. Standing Backbend Clasp your hands behind you (which will require you bend back) and take a deep breath. Hold the posture as long as you can, breathing as necessary; 20 counts is optimum. Then exhale fully and repeat 2 or three times, holding longer each time.
3. Standing Forward Bend To counteract the backbend, move into the forward bend, which involves bending forward and getting your head as close to your knees as possible. Hold the stretch as long as you can while breathing fully. This benefits both spine and Hamstring muscles at the back of the leg.

KNEES

1. Reverse lunges. Bend front leg, back leg to the rear, mind your core.
2. Squats. Keep core engaged, arms out front.
3. Holding one foot out behind with leg bent, reach down past the knee on the stable leg and straighten up, all the while keeping other leg bent and foot off the floor.

Quadriceps (muscles in front of the thighs): quads flex the hip and extend the knee, pulling the leg forward.

1. While standing, bend one knee behind and grasp ankle with hand, keeping hip straight and thigh parallel to unbent leg. Hold until muscle loosens. Repeat five times with each leg.
2. Flex your foot (upwards) and press down with your knee so that the area above your kneecap tightens.
3. Raise and lower your straight leg.
4. With one foot on a step or 6-inch bench, raise and lower the opposite foot on the SIDE, not the front or back. Keep your pelvis level and your knee straight, not drifting. Touch your toe to the floor with a controlled descent and ascent. Try touching toe a bit to the front and back when you can keep your pelvis level and your knee straight.

Vasus Medialis (Muscle in inner thigh that controls position of knee cap):

1. Walk up stairs.
2. With one foot on a step or bench, step opposite foot back, touch your toe, and come back up, balancing on the one stable leg. Keep the stable leg straight or vasus medialis will not be exercised properly.
3. If you are on a bench or a curb that allow a forward and back movement, do so; keeping yourself balanced on one leg, touch your other toe behind you, come up and forward, and touch the toe on the front.
4. If you have a bench to balance on, put one foot back and balance your toe on it, then bend the front leg up and down

LEGS and ANKLES

The best preventative measure is regular strengthening and stretching exercises and mindfulness during sudden abrupt movements.

• Stretch and Strengthen:
  • Stand on a step (or curb) with the heel hanging over.
  • Gradually let the body weight stretch the heel down.
  • Gradually raise up on toes, holding that for a count of 10 before starting again.
• Walk on your toes several times a day.
• Stretch forward:
  • Stand with toes of one foot up against a wall and support yourself with the other foot several inches behind.
  • Gradually stretch forward towards the wall itself.

• Circle: Sit on chair or floor and rotate ankles to the right a few times, then to the left.
• Stretch: Point toes, holding stretch in the top of the foot and ankle, then pull toes towards your chin and press the heels away from you. Repeat many times.
• Squeeze: With legs extended, inhale as you stretch ALL your toes out as far as you can; exhale and squeeze them tight.
• Wiggle: Sit in a chair or on the floor and wiggle all toes, including the little ones.
• The Roll: Applying light pressure and rolling a golf ball under the ball of your foot for approximately two minutes creates an instant massage for the bottom of the foot. This exercise is perfect for people who suffer from plantar fasciitis (heel pain syndrome), cramps or arch pain (and it feels great!). If a golf ball is not readily available, any type of small ball will work just as well. Roll a tennis ball along the bottom of your foot from heel to toe, applying medium to deep pressure as you go.

Standing up:

• Toe Points: While standing, do toe raises, toe points and toe curls. Hold each position for five seconds and repeat ten times. This is a perfect way to help alleviate toe cramps and strengthen calf muscles.
• Shift your Weight: move your weight forward and rise to the balls of your feet. One step forward, then back. Shift your weight backwards until you are standing on your heels. Take a few steps backwards.
• Reflexology: shift weight to left leg, press heel of right foot to floor and turn heel right and left. Now roll right foot along outside edge and back again. Alternate legs.
• Reflexology: Shift weight onto ball of right foot and draw small circles with the outside edge of the foot while pressing the ball of the foot against the ground. This will activiate important reflexology zones just beneath your toes. Alternate sides.
• Shake foot and ankle and circle your foot in the air inwards and outwards a few times.
• Scoop: Place something soft, like a towel, on the floor and pick it up by only using your toes. Repeat this exercise five times. Try this if you have hammertoes, toe cramps, pain in the ball of your foot, or for overall strengthening.