77:: Cooldowns, cortisol, & your parasympathetic nervous system!

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the last essential might be

the most important of all.

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It's where the building actually

happens, where the adaptation start to

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occur, And where we can make sure to

approach the next workout even better.

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Welcome back to Wellness Fix is the pod.

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I'm your host, Dr.

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Kelsey Vic, a board certified

orthopedic doctor, physical therapy,

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and a pelvic floor physical therapist.

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And we are covering the last essential

as part of our exercise handbag.

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Today I'm calling it the bookends, the

warmup, and the cool down the recovery,

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basically where all the magic happens.

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If you've missed our previous episodes,

we've covered more essentials to include

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as part of your exercise handbag,

where no matter the style of handbag

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that you like, all of the essentials

throughout all of our handbags as

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women, especially our exercise handbags,

as women, should be pretty similar.

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We have our keys, our cell phones,

our driver's license, our wallets, our

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lip moisturizer, if you've missed our

previous episodes, we've covered more

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essentials to include in your exercise

handbag, high intensity interval

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training and sprint interval training.

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In addition to how those affect our

cortisol, we've covered zone two

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training and how it might not be as

essential as we previously thought.

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We've covered jump training, strength

training in our last one today.

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The recovery phases of

our exercise handbags.

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So super duper important, super

fun series, and I'm excited to dive

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into this final essential today.

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I am describing this one too, this

essential as the environment that

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you put your body into in order to

get the most out of your exercises

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that you are adding to your routine.

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So whether that's high intensity interval

training, sprint interval training,

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strength training, jump training.

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When we add those, we wanna make

sure that our body is in the right

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environment through a warmup, through

a cool down, and making sure it has the

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right amount of recovery in between.

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So all of them help prep our bodies

to reduce the risk for injury.

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helps with our nervous system.

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It helps with our hormonal

balance, especially as women.

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So the environment that our body's

in when we exercise is super duper

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important and should be an essential

component and something that we think

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about each time we are exercising.

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So let's start with a warmup.

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It's essential, and I know you're sick

of hearing this, especially from a

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physical therapist, but it helps to

prep your muscles, joints, and tendons.

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It also reduces your risk for injury,

which is probably the biggest one.

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I know my physical therapist friends

probably do not wanna have to see you for

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lack of a proper warmup, but it really is

super important to prep and prime the body

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for the activity that you're about to do.

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It comes down to communication.

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Before we call someone, we go on our

phones, we find their name, and then

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we press their name, which dials their

number, and then we can think about

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the warmup as that act of going to

find the name and dial the number.

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We have to do the prep work before we

actually get to the end goal, which

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is a conversation with that person.

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So think of the warmup like that,

dialing of the number, that finding

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the name, and then pressing call.

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In the same way, we need to cue

the right muscles, joints, tendons,

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right parts of our nervous system

in order to respond to the exercise

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that we are about to go through.

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It's important that our warmup

is also specific to the type of

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training that we're about to do.

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This might be a duh thing, Kelsey,

But I've seen plenty of people

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warm up with squats when they're

about to do an upper body day.

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Not wrong, but maybe not

as specific as we could be.

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So it might sound super obvious,

but we're going to wanna warm up

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our upper body on an upper body day.

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We're gonna warm up our heart.

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On a cardiovascular day, we're gonna

warm up some of the muscles that we'll

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be using during those high intensity days

and those jump training days, we want to

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actually move the areas and the joints

and the muscles that we are going to use

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before we actually expect them to do this.

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Like higher intensity work, whether in

the form of HIT training, sprint training,

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jump training, or strength training.

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So if you're doing some of these more

explosive exercises, think of adding

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progressively more explosive movements.

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So let's talk high

intensity interval training.

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For example, start off possibly

with body weight squats, then

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walking lunges, then jump lunges.

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Easing it bit by bit, progressively

getting harder and harder until

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you're more explosive and starting

out with high knees and then sprints.

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So you're warming up those muscles in an

easier way before you are warming them

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up in a more explosive way before you

exercise at a more explosive intensity.

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If you're doing yoga, you're

not gonna jump right in to the

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most flexible bending position.

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You're gonna warm up the joints

prior to your practice, and

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so the same thing applies.

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We want it to be specific to

the activity that you're doing.

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It also doesn't have to be long.

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A warmup does not have to be

long at all, and you can include

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it as part of your workout.

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If you've done any sort of track workouts

or high school track or college track, you

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know that the warmups can be challenging

and can be a way to get that heart

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rate up prior to the exercise, so you

can count it as part of your workout.

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switching to the cool down, the

cool down helps to take us from that

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sympathetic, that fight or flight

response that we want during exercise

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to that parasympathetic rest, digest,

muscle recovery side of our nervous

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system that we want for after exercise.

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If you struggle with feeling like

you've properly recovered after a

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higher intensity session, whether that

be heavier lifting or a HIIT workout

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really, really focus on the cool down.

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The cool down is our way to.

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Influence our physiology.

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It's really cool that we can do something

like breath work to cue our body into

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the right state of recovery, to cue us

from that sympathetic response to that

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parasympathetic response and help put

our body in that right environment for

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those adaptations, that recovery to occur.

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So breath work might be my most favorite

tool to utilize during a cool down.

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I just think it's cool that again,

we can perform this action of

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breath work to put our body in

the right state for that recovery.

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So not only does it target that

parasympathetic nervous system, but

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it can also help lower our cortisol.

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So if you are someone who experiences

high stress in her workday or her family

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life or whatever, really focus and

prioritize that cool down because you

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can do something as easy as breath work

to really help your body switch from

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what we expect with exercise, with that

higher sympathetic state, that higher

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cortisol activity, which is totally okay.

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That's what we want.

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But if you struggle with recovery,

implement some of these breath

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work techniques to really help cue

your body into that recovery state.

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So a little note on cortisol.

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We've done an entire series on cortisol,

a link below where we talk about cortisol

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being the misunderstood mean girl.

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And we covered this a little bit in

our high intensity interval training

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and sprint interval training episode.

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But it really is a

misunderstood, mean girl.

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Our body needs cortisol.

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Our body wants cortisol, especially

at different times of the day.

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It's this prolonged elevated cortisol

levels that are dangerous for us.

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So I'll link all of that deep

sciency cortisol episodes below.

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'cause we've done, I think

three or four episodes.

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But from an umbrella perspective,

we expect a peak in cortisol

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within 30 to 45 minutes of waking.

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Exercise also increases our cortisol,

but it should be temporary intensity.

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The interval training

gets a bad reputation for.

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spiking our cortisol, but long term,

the more you incorporate high intensity

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interval training with the appropriate

recovery, it helps to actually lower

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your baseline levels of cortisol.

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So don't let cortisol scare you.

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Don't let raised cortisol scare you,

but this cool down really is a way.

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If you do feel like you struggle with that

balance to help overall put your body into

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a state of rest, adaptation, and recovery.

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If you struggle with recovery too,

try exercising in the morning when

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our cortisol is expected to peak.

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It is almost like working with

your body rather than against it.

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So rather than exercising at the end

of the day when we expect a lower

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cortisol and then we're spiking it

when it's at, one of its lowest points.

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Try working out at the beginning of the

day when we expect it to have its peak.

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So a few cool down techniques with breath

work, again, you can do light mobility

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flows, light stretching, all good too.

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But I really do think breath work is

one of the essential parts of a cool

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down to have in your exercise hand back.

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Breath work, can actually

decrease cortisol levels by 20%.

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So it's a really good tool

to have in your toolbox.

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So two techniques that

I love for breath work.

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One, you do a five second inhale,

five second exhale, and then pause

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at the bottom for two seconds.

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The other one's box breathing.

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So you picture a square,

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you inhale for four seconds.

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Hold for four seconds.

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Exhale four seconds, hold four seconds.

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And you can vary that time based on.

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What your capacity is for

breath work at that time?

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I know when I'm super stressed,

four seconds is challenging for

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me, but if I'm more relaxed, I can

do maybe five to eight seconds.

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So you can vary the time too.

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Remember, recovery truly

is where the magic happens.

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It's that environment that you put your

body in both before the workout and after

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the workout, and on rest days to allow

that recovery, those adaptations, that

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muscle building, that nervous system

reset all the good things to occur.

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We can't just keep breaking down our

body day after day and expecting that

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recovery and those adaptations to happen.

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We really do need to prioritize

that warmup, cool down and recovery

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part of our exercise handbag.

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As far as recovery goes, that

can look different for everyone.

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It can be a zone two jog if you

feel like your body can handle that.

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It can be a walk, it can be complete rest.

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It's definitely talking about sleep too.

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So all of those are good things to focus

on when it comes to your recovery and

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thinking about how you want your body

to recover and how able your body is

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to recover doing certain activities.

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So to keep it simple, warm up

specific to the form of exercise

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that you're about to do, cool down.

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Utilizing breath work practices

and take recovery days.

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So that wraps up our

exercise handbag series.

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We've covered all the essentials, high

intensity interval training, sprint

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interval training, jump training, strength

training, cool down recovery warmup.

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And then we've also a little side

comment on zone two and why it

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might not be as essential for

our exercise handbags as women.

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So I hope you've enjoyed the series.

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If you've learned something, I'd

love if you could share the episode.

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If you could rate and review it on

whatever podcast platform you listen

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to, let me know what you think.

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Let me know how you're incorporating

some of these essentials into your

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own routine, especially given all

of our different styles of exercise

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and movement that we all enjoy.

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Thank you guys for listening.

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Thank you, of course, for supporting me,

especially by listening to this podcast.

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This is one of my favorite things to do.

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I love educating.

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I love talking about these

topics, so thank you for basically

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showing an interest in one of

my passions that I really enjoy.

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It means the world to me, so thank

you so much, and I'll see you guys

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again on the next episode of Wellness.

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Big is the po.