Getting ready to move
Physical Education · Early Years · The School
Why warm up
Cold muscles are stiff. They pull more easily. A few minutes of gentle movement warms them up. Try marching. Try arm circles. Try easy jogging. It gets your heart going too. Every athlete does this, every time. Children who learn it young keep doing it.
What changes
Put a hand on your chest after running. Your heart is beating faster. You are breathing harder. You feel warmer. You might go red. All of that is your body sending more oxygen to working muscles. Those are signs it is working. They are not signs something is wrong.
Coming down
After exercise, walk about. Stretch gently. Your heart slows back down. Your breathing settles. Stopping dead after hard running feels bad, and there is a reason. The body needs a minute to change gear.
Sit still. Put two fingers on your neck, or a hand on your chest. Feel the beats. They are slow and steady. Now run on the spot for one minute. Stop and feel again. Much faster. You are breathing harder and feeling warmer. That is your body getting ready to move. Now sit for two minutes and feel a third time. It is coming back down. That is what cooling down is.
What a warm body can do that a cold one cannot
A warmed-up body bends further and moves faster. You can feel the difference yourself. Try reaching for your toes straight away. Remember how far you got. Now run and skip for two minutes and try again. Nearly everyone reaches further the second time. Nothing about your legs changed in two minutes. The muscles simply got warmer, and warm muscles stretch more easily. That is the whole reason for a warm-up. It is why it comes first, rather than whenever there is time.