145 A Christian Guide to Body Stewardship, Diet and Exercise Figure 7.3. Relationship between Flexibility and Injury Risk General Warm-Up and Cool-Down Purpose and Recommendations It is recommended that each training session begin with a proper warm-up and end with a proper cool-down. The purpose of a warm-up is to prepare the body for the more intense and demanding activity to follow. A proper warm-up increases the temperature of and the blood flow to the muscles thereby improving their elasticity and plasticity. Collectively, these actions help to improve ROM and decrease the risk of injury. In addition to improved muscle elasticity and plasticity, performing a proper warm-up has also been shown to increase force and power development, coordination and reaction time (Peterson & Rittenhouse, 2019). A proper warm-up should begin with gentle movements focusing on ROM then gradually progress to movements that are more dynamic (e.g., jumping, bounding, plyometric). Additionally, movements in all three movement planes (i.e., sagittal, frontal, transverse) should be incorporated. Figure 7.4 depicts the three different planes of movement. Figure 7.4. The 3 Planes of Movement
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTM4ODY=