Warm-ups and cool-downs - some food for thought
Every adult learning class will be different and will present its own difficulties or issues in terms of preparing and managing the learners. An effective warm-up and cool-down is an important part of the learning process as well as ensuring safe working practices are maintained. Here are some tips to help you check your own warm-up and cool-down regimes.
- Think about the purpose of warm-up and cool-down activities - physical, mental and social. Like the acceleration/deceleration lanes of a motorway - learners need to re-tune from and to their everyday lives.
- Wherever possible explain the purpose of an exercise, its contraindications and possible alternatives that will have the same outcomes/effect.
- Think 'kinaesthetically' - most learners in an activity/sport class need to know how an exercise should feel, not simply how it should look.
- Adapt to meet different conditions for example, heat/cold/limited space/learner experience/learner fitness/learner attitude.
- Use progressive and incremental exercises that lead naturally into the main activity.
- Think about how you can judge when your learners are warm enough for the session - what can you look for?
- Make sure everyone is involved - do not ignore the back line or the reluctant learners!
- Check everyone out - regularly! Know your learners - use the information from the health screening to anticipate.
- Do not go over the top (OTT). Warm-ups are not endurance tests!
- In some disciplines it will be inappropriate for you to do the warm-up or cool-down yourself - you can not monitor and safeguard your learners properly whilst you do so nor can you be sure they are exercising correctly.
- Ask your learners to self-assess - encourage them to learn about their own warm-up and cool-down capabilities.