Filed under: fitness blogs, fitness, exercise, ebooks, injury, physical therapy, wellness | Tags: cool down, fitness, rehab, warm up, weekend warrior, wellness
For some of you, it’s obvious – warm-up 30 minutes before your game and cool down 10-15 minutes after. For most of you, there are numerous excuses to skip it. I’m willing to bet most of you may not know how this idea and recommendation came about.
I remember how easy it was to warm up when I was in my teens and early twenties. I would stretch for about 5 minutes, jog for about 2 minutes and I was good to battle for 4+ hours. I think you all can relate to how easy it truly was. As I got older, I was painfully sore and stiff the day after. I pushed my warm-ups to 30 minutes and neglected to cool down because my busy life couldn’t afford it. The result was good but I was only to sustain this for about 2 more years. Now, it has come down to the old fashioned recommendation in order to get my body functional for the next day.
Here’s the truth about the warm up. As we get older, the stress hormone cortisol builds up. It’s the same hormone that causes you to rise to the occasion; unfortunately it is also a catabolic or hormone that breaks muscles and tendons down if sustained for a long time. The end result is more scar tissue – otherwise known as collagen. Collagen is tough to break down.
Back to cortisol: so you can see this elevated level could be a never-ending vicious cycle for those of you who are working at a stressful job. Over long periods of time it will also decrease your heart’s efficiency (general wear-and-tear). So what does this mean for you? It means that blood and proper nutrients don’t go to the right places for muscle repair and healing. The worst case scenario is heart disease or cardiomyopathies.
What does the warm up do? Well it’s meant to level out all this stress to your body and gradually build it up so it can run at optimal performance. The cool down is meant to do the same – gradually easing yourself back to resting form. If you choose not to cool down, you may have blood pooling. Blood Pooling? It’s when the blood from your muscles doesn’t return to circulation and can damage your veins and arteries. In the end, blood pooling can cause blood clots. What’s that mean? You could give yourself a nice lung/brain stroke and/or heart-attack. Enough said.
Solution:
What’s my pregame warm up? I usually start my warm at home by foam rolling. This is a cheap but great piece of equipment that helps roll out knots and the scar tissue built up in your body (please see my foam roll link under Recommended Products –> Rehab Equipment). When I get to the field, I start off with a 5 minute jog for about 300-400 yards. I focus on form and full stride with heel to toe action upon foot contact. I choose to run first before stretching so I can start my circulatory system and get the right body parts warmed up. I then go through some twisting, side to side jumps, quick cuts to get my knees and ligaments more flexible and sturdy. I end up stretching the most common tight muscles: the neck, chest, the upper back, calves, hip flexors, and internal rotators of the hips.
The cool down is pretty much the same, except I don’t do any of the cutting or jumps. I just do a light jog and stretch of the same muscles I listed above. If you need some ideas visit my website. Everyone is free to have their own methods of going about their warm up and cool-down. The main premise is to just do it.
Thanks and remember to live in the way of the warrior!
Justin C Lin
Justin is a featured columnist for DCAS’ “Weekend Warrior,” a practicing physical therapist in the DC metro area and founder of Wellness Revolution 101. If you wish to learn more, please visit his site and read his biography.
Filed under: fitness, exercise, ebooks, injury, physical therapy, wellness, wellness revolution 101 about us | Tags: about us, history, wellness, wellnessrevolution101.com
I thought this history would be interesting for those who were bored and wanted to know what a royal pain it is to start a website but how the intrinsic rewards for me made it all worth it. To be honest this page is more or less something out of personal diary so that I will never forget the painstaking process and what it was like at the beginning if I ever become successful in this venture. I hope you all enjoy. Click on the tabs below to jump to specific areas, but I promise this story is a good one.
Site Set Up, Slogans, Inspirations and Motivations , WR101 Goals, The Future, What I’m Hoping to Achieve, Three Secrets to Success™
WellnessRevolution101.com SET-UP 
Back to the Top
The fun and informal history of how Wellness Revolution 101 began. To be honest, I knew I always wanted to do something special with my skills that I have learned as a clinician and as a strength coach/trainer. I never thought it would be this…and look at me now, who would have thought I could produce such a product with the monumentous help of Angela in about 4 months. We created the first platform and launched it unofficially in June 1, 2008. I remember this day vividly as we had just finished taking adult education classes for webdesign in the evenings all through May 2008.
The problem with the first platform was that people would keep scrolling for years on end to get the information and for the most part it looked unprofessional. Angela was in the works to produce a new platform that was set up much like the one you see today. The old platform was taken down and in September 1, 2008 the new platform was launched. So I tinkered with it day and night for about 18 days trying to shift the left side scroll frame and the shift the right side so the “mouth” or the center main frame would be larger. Honestly, WHAT A PAIN! Somehow the end result was what I wanted it to look like simple and no extraneous stuff. If you asked me how I did it, I couldn’t tell you.
Now the graphics went through a great evolution in order to produce this revolution
The right 3D box you see on the frame came about from the inital “101″ symbol which is on both faces of the 3D box. This design took about 12 hours on a saturday playing with wordart. I was looking for a way to shape the wellness and revolution into the “0″ I trialed and made many errors, but like the webdesign scheme, I didn’t know how I ended with the final product, but I did. So Yay for me! Originally it was grey and navy and I modeled it after the team jersey colors of Georgetown University of Washington DC. Collegiate colorsI thought would be neat, but unfortunately it didn’t last long because it made everything look dark and sad
So I looked for a different scheme and found the baby blue which you see on the face of the box. Inspired by the boxes of the Apple Ipod and especially the Nintendo Wii. It reminded me of happier times. So there you have it my trademark. You see the originally as the current introduction graphic at the last of the 27 slide .gif graphic. Graphic designing for a guy who treats patients all day is not what I look forward to when I get home. Photoshop helped produce this product. I had to tinker with this graphic and make sublte layers as it is called to show that the little cracks could move. Very difficult! The graphic on the left is my pride and joy. I was playing with the glow function in Photoshop and made a neat color scheme and produced the “101″ that way. Which also led me to make the top frame look glowing the way it does. Interesting how things play into one another when you find things by “accident.” My thoughts on this top graphic is that it now officially made the website look “professional.”
So there you go, I admit we may be just amateurs, but you really haven’t seen our potentional. I hope you the format of this site.
Slogans:Back to the Top
The evolution of all my slogans that I’ve paid to own. I think it’s funny how many I have but I love them all. With every new slogan, I naturally reached around my back and patted myself thinking how mere “genius” it truly was. The latest is Rehab and Revive your everyday body™ which evolved from Bridging the gap between health and your busy body™ Everyone seemed to get stumped with the latter about the premise of the site so I decided to get rid of it and stick it somewhere else in the site. I’ve got a couple others Building a better, fitter, and SMARTER busy body™ that was naturally another one that evolved from the first. The last one will likely end up on an ad campaign someday, Your body is the vehicle to fulfill life’s great opportunities.
WR101 will get you ready for those yet fulfilled chances.™ I guess you can own whatever catch phrase you wish just as long as you pay the right people the right amount.
Inspirations and Motivations: Back to the Top
I guess you could say I have always wanted to own something out right. In a sense this is my virtual real-estate. The website idea came originally on a visit back to Boston in February 12, 2006 with my friend and former personal training friend Dr Charles Innis, DPT. He is a pure motivator and one of the most inspirational people I know. We dicussed everything and then he got onto the topic of his website and spoke about the potential and how easy it was to make a website and to have it run 24 hours a day, 7 days a week for years. Ebooks are a cheap and easy way to publish yourself and so I was hooked. Unfortunately I let it sit in the back burner for a long time, not until the idea reappeared as my project of choice for my Business and Marketing class at Marymount University’s Program as part of my doctorate of Physical Therapy Degree in January 2008. I researched the possibility and looked at numbers. In reality the costs and the time I put in were a lot more than I had ever expected. But the site is up and running and you get to see me complain just a little.
After that it wasn’t until April 2008, I cracked and decided to leave my job at Sibley Hospital and work part time at Nova Pain and Rehab Centers to carry this venture out. Looking back, it really has been the best thing I have ever done for myself and for others.
So I was motivated to provide a health and wellness site, but I didn’t want to fall into the same type-cast as many of my competitors. I had to think critically (which hurt I might add) about what would seperate this site from any others (see list below) I was an avid blogger and knew that my audience was vast and people generally liked the way I wrote and conveyed life’s truths or at least my interpretations of life’s truths. I knew that if I could channel the same amount of success into this site, I could in a years time reach 10,000 hits or views (I’m guessing people liked reading about my life). By the way this is one of my goals for the site in this first year. Below I drew up a few things I considered when starting this site.
- To provide easy information on a simplified format whether in my ebooks or through this site
- To make your reading easy to follow as if I was right in front of you just having a general discussion
- To build a site that was more superior than my counterparts
- To make a site about physical therapy and self-rehab that is the first in many realms
- To make money
My WR101 First Years Goals Back to the Top
I hope this is all something we all can reach together. I realize they are lofty goals but I’m ambitious. Both short term and long term goals combined. Remember when goal setting SMART (specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and timely).
- Reach 10,000 or more hits in the next 12 months
- To get onto the first two search pages for Google Search Engines when someone searches about “physical therapy or wellness” within the next 12 months
- To sell one ebook or more within the next 12 months
- Have 250 or more subscribers to my newsletters in the next 12 months
- Find no glitches with the site in the next 6-12 months
- Write six or more ebooks within the next 6-12 months
- Sleep before Midnight at some point when this website is up and running in the next 3-6 months
- Add one to two more new features to the site in the next 3-6 months
- If there is revenue to spend it on Angela or do something nice with her in the next 3-6 months
- To receive more than just one testimonial about my services or products withint the next 1-3 months
The Future:Back to the Top
The future for this site is bright. I’m looking for investors and thoughs who want to market with me or advertise their things on my site. However, I do want all of you to be well aware. Not just any company makes it to my site. I’ve hand picked them because of patient reports or my own personal experiences with certain products and companies as well as from patient and friend recommendations. One day I hope to have a virtual chat and can set some time down to talk with those wanting to talk to me. I’ve got newsletters on the way that will give helpful tips. More blogs. More books on the way (I can’t reveal them just yet but THEY’RE GOOD)! More Free exercises and tips and just more information. I’ve got a nutritionist friend who I’m trying to get to work for free to provide tips and advice. The upwards movement is great and will move up because of all your support so keep spreading the love and tell everyone about “us” or me to be exact and this website that will help people get better.
What I’m hoping to Achieve with Wellness Revolution 101 Back to the Top
This is my baby. For the first time since I was Junior Class President in high school, I’ve had a chance to be creative, imaginiative, and my own business person. No bosses, no “I don’t like the way you did this or that,” it’s just plain me in my own skin telling you what I know (which is a lot). Sounds funny now, but this site is really for my unborn children. It’s kind of like The Last Lecture By Randy Pausch life is really too short and I want something for my family and friends to be proud of. What my dream is for the longest time is to go around the world and speak about what I do, what I’ve learned, and talk about the things I’m passionate about, which would be inspiring others and health/wellness. I figure the more famous this site gets, inherently the more famous I get. We’ll see about that dream and like a colleague of mine said “singing for supper isn’t easy.
Aside from all this, I’m truly looking to reach out to a vast majority of people and teach you all with my approach to health (Speak simple language, use lots of hand gestures, and speak in terms that you can relate). Metaphors have always been my key to communication success.
My Three Secrets to Success™ Back to the Top
Drink FRESHLY SQUEEZED orange juice, have a pair of CLEAN and COMFORTABLE underwear on, and ALWAYS wear DRY Socks™
In all seriousness if you can figure out the underlying meaning in my phrase, you’ll realize its hidden truth. Believe me you’ll have to dig real DEEP to understand why I hand picked each word in this “secret.” From my perspective, these are three things you essentially need to set your self up for success. OK seriously, who likes wearing wet socks anyways? Drives me bonkers!
Good Luck In Your Journey!
Justin
