The Bookends: Why Warm-Ups, Cool Downs, and Recovery Are Essential

Workouts are only part of the story—what you do before and after matters just as much. In this episode, Dr. Kelsy Vick, board-certified Doctor of Physical Therapy and pelvic floor PT, breaks down the often-overlooked exercise handbag essentials: warm-ups, cool downs, and recovery.

We’ll cover:

• Why warm-ups reduce injury and prime your body for the specific workout ahead
• How cool downs (and breathwork!) shift your nervous system into recovery mode
• The role of cortisol in exercise—and how to manage it
• Why recovery is where progress really happens
• Simple strategies for adding effective bookends to your routine

If you’ve been skipping warm-ups or rushing out of the gym without cooling down, this episode shows why those “extras” are actually essentials in your exercise handbag.

Listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube for science-backed tips you can apply right away.

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00:00- 00:50 Intro

00:51- 01:18 Introduction to the Final Essential

01:19- 02:50 Recap of Previous Episodes

02:51- 03:49 Importance of Warmup

03:50- 05:37 Specific Warmup Techniques

05:38- 06:23 Transition to Cool Down

06:24- 07:09 Breath Work for Recovery

07:10- 07:37 Thorne

07:38- 09:48 Understanding Cortisol

09:49- 10:48 Final Thoughts on Recovery

10:49- 11:44 Conclusion and Series Wrap-Up

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.