The best way to warm up and cool down. During the warm up its essential to prepare the muscles and joint ready for exercise, this warm up period is were you aim to increase heart rate and mobility, making sure that prevent any injury during or after your fitness session. Static stretching is common during the warm up, static stretching is a method of which you stretch the muscle and hold for 7-8 seconds before releasing. New evidence has been released on static stretching, a recent research found that static stretching can promote injuries, it was found that the muscles often relax too far and assist cooling down when the stretch is preformed, heart rate levels start to decrease and slows down the blood transport around the body, leaving less oxygen and generally cooling the muscles making them more common to injury. At the University of California researchers found that static stretching after exercise has better results, when the muscles are warm they lengthen easier and reduce soreness in that area.
Dynamic stretches are prefect for the warm up and cool down if needed. Stretches are important after exercise, as they help you develop a better range of movement and will help activate more muscles, activating more muscles essential for toning. Increasing mobility can help your body relax and prevent your muscles from injury, its ideal to add some pilates or yoga moves into your cool down period.
