Cooling Down

The cool-down consists of 10 minutes of slowing down and stretching exercises to bring your heart rate gently back down to the resting heart rate, and stop you feeling faint or dizzy. The workouts all contain 5 minutes of gentle jogging, skipping or powerwalking. After this you should do the 5-minute full-body stretch.

As you stretch, blood is moved into that area, helping to prevent injury and disperse the lactic acid that may have built up during the workout, helping to prevent any associated stiffness you could feel the next day.

Stretching is also important for posture and range of motion(vital to good sport performance). Every mile you run, every weight you lift, every hour you spend sitting or driving, muscles become shorter. It's called adaptive shortening, and unless you stretch they will stay short, making you feel old, ruining your posture and making everyday actions harder to perform. But just a few simple stretches can reverse this, increasing the range of motion of your muscles, helping to make life more comfortable, improve sports performance and prevent injury. This also helps create long lithe muscles that look great!

The Routine

Make stretches slow, gentle and hold them for 30 seconds. You should feel a comfortable pull as you stretch. Don't bounce-stretch, or try to push or pull yourself into a deeper stretch than is comfortable - this will simply activate the stretch reflex and the muscles will contract against it, making the whole activity counter-productive. Overstretching can make muscles tired, and could injure them. Signs that you are overstretching a muscle include feeling unbearable rather than comfortable pain, and muscle shaking.

If stretching is new to you, your task for the first few weeks will be to get your muscles and connective tissues accustomed to stretching, and to enjoy the increased range of motion in crucial joints such as your hips, lower back and shoulder. As you progress, your flexibility will dramatically increase, building strength at the point where muscles are most extended- and improving performance on the squash court, climbing wall or football pitch.

You may have heard about more advanced stretching techniques, such as PNF (proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation), but you need not concern yourself with them for this program; this simple stretch program will increase flexibility all over the body quickly and effectively.