The document discusses the importance of warming up, stretching, and cooling down before and after exercise. It recommends that the warm-up last 5 minutes and involve slow walking or brisk walking. Stretching should be light after warming up and deeper after the workout to improve flexibility and reduce injury risk. The cool-down involves gradually slowing the pace and doing deep stretches to relax the muscles and prevent soreness.

1. Warm-Up, Stretch,
& Cool-Down
“Early to bed and early to rise, makes a person healthy,
wealthy, and wise”
(Benjamin Franklin)

2.  Prepares your body physically
and psychologically
 Increases blood flow to the muscles
and the body temperature
 Reduce the risk of injury
 Achieve optimal performance
Why Warm-Up?

3. How do you Warm-Up?
 The warm-up should last about five minutes
 Slow walking is a good warm-up
for a moderate-paced walk
 Brisk walking is a good warm-up
for more vigorous activity

4. Warm-Up Conditions
Make sure your warm-up does the following:
 Increases heart rate
 Increases breathing rate
 Elevates body temperature
 Utilizes muscles you will use in the upcoming
activity
 Takes your joints through a full rage of
motion needed for the upcoming activity

5. STRETCHING
• Light stretching should be done after the warm-up
• Deep stretching after the entire workout
• Remember to breathe when you stretch!
• Benefits of stretching, include:
 Improving and maintaining joint range of motion
 Helps reduce risk of injury
 Helps reduce soreness
 Promotes better posture
 Improves circulation
 Relieves stress

6. Warm-Up Stretching
• After the warm-up, stretch the muscles that you will be
using during your workout
• Each stretch should last 10-30 seconds
• Going on a Walk?
Concentrate on
stretching your…
Quadriceps,
hamstrings,
gluteals,
adductors, hip
flexors, calves,
and lower back

7. WORKOUT
Remember that your workout
should be at a moderate
intensity:
The ‘Talk Test’
Your Target Heart Rate Range
(between 60% and 85% of your
maximal heart rate)
MAXIMAL HEART RATE = 220 - AGE

8. COOL-DOWN
If you abruptly stop an intense
activity, you risk:
 Increasing your chance of
experiencing heart arrhythmias
 Hindering the removal of
cellular waste from your
muscles, increasing the muscle
soreness
 Blood pooling
 Becoming light-headed
Never skip this step of your workout!

9. How do you Cool-Down?
• Slow the intensity of the activity you are doing
• Gradually slow your pace down to a walk
• End the cool-down by doing some deep stretching
 Focus on the muscles that you were using during your workout, this
will help reduce the incidence of stiffness or soreness later

10. Cool-Down Stretching
After the entire workout, stretch the whole body
Make sure to focus on the muscles that were used
during the workout
Each stretch should last 20-30 seconds and be
repeated

11. Cool-Down Benefits
• Slowly ending your workout gives your body a chance to:
 Relax
 Decrease your heart rate
 Decrease your breathing rate
• Reduces potential for muscle soreness
• Reduces chance of dizziness or fainting