Warming up and cooling down

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No matter what activity you are doing it is important to warm your body up before you start and cool it down at the end.

When you are warming up start slowly and gradually increase the pace of your activity. A good warm up should take five to ten minutes and will introduce your body to the activity ahead. Getting into the habit of warming up before you start will ensure you slowly increase your heart rate and prevent injury to your joints and muscles.

Always decrease the pace of your activity gently before stopping. The cool down period will ease your body back to a resting state and slow your heart rate down. Your breathing rate should return to normal five to ten minutes after exercise.

Both warming up and cooling down should include some basic stretching to avoid injury and muscle soreness.

• Don't stretch to the point of pain
• Ease into and out of the stretch
• Avoid bouncing movements
• Hold the stretch for a slow count of at least ten seconds
• Breathe evenly and relax.

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