# "Warming Up"



## soccer50 (Jun 28, 2003)

Before we work out, we "warm up". We do a few excersises to get the blood running into out muscle more. I was thinking, can rubbing down your muscles with hot cloth be considered warming up?


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## Zepp (Jun 28, 2003)

:rofl:


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## MartialArtist (Jun 29, 2003)

> _Originally posted by Zepp _
> *:rofl: *


X100


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## Robbo (Jun 29, 2003)

Dude,

Inside out....NOT outside in.

Rob


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## lhommedieu (Jul 2, 2003)

O.k., I'll go out on a limb here and assume that you're serious and not just pulling my...towel.

What you're describing has a lot of merit with respect to increasing and maintaining flexibility, healing chronic sprains and tears, etc.   Variations of the techiques described below have been used by the manual medicine of different cultures (Native American, Scandinavian, Thai, to name just a few) in combination with herbal liniments and massage to help with musculoskeltal injuries.

My yoga teacher would recommend stretching in the steam bath, and at least one major yoga style (Bikram) advocates doing postures in a room heated to 105-110 degrees.  Why?  Because muscles that are stretched in a hot or warm environment have less chance of tearing than muscles that are stretched in a cold environment.  Of course, this is not a hard and fast rule:  any muscle can tear if you use improper technique.

The downside is that you lose fluids in a hot environment (fluids that help hydrate your muscles and keep them flexible in the first place), so if you choose to stretch in this manner make sure that you hydrate well before, during, and after your session.

With respect to using hot towels:  I doubt that they would stay hot long enough for the heat to penetrate to the belly of the muscle, unless you alternated them every couple of minutes or so.  This is possible if you use a microwave to heat damp towels in succession (but be careful to use other towels as buffers because the first towel will get very hot).  The down side is that you have to keep getting up every few minutes to change towels, which defeats the purpose of stretching while using moist heat, so this technique is best done with a partner.  I've used the same techique to help treat someone's back that "went out" while I was a guest in their home for the weekend (in addition to using massage) and it worked very well.  It is labor intensive though.

One alternative would be to use a hydroculator pad (a compartmentalized canvas bag filled with a special clay used by chiropractors that is also sold in pharmacies:  the pad is kept in boiling water for about an hour until the clay has absorbed the heat, which is retained for about 45 minutes) covered with a couple of layers of towel.  Here you are using both steam and heat over the muscle that you want to stretch for an extended period of time.  Again, use caution because the clay under the canvas will be about as hot as the boiling water in which it was immersed; experience will teach you how many layers of towels to use over the pad, and as the clay starts to lose heat, you can start taking away the layers.

Best,

Steve Lamade


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## andurilking2 (Jul 3, 2003)

..........


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