Warm Up and Cool Down
A sprinter never bursts straight into a race, and never stops dead at the finish. Learn the purpose and phases of a warm up and a cool down, and why both matter.
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Ready, set, warm up
A sprinter never bursts straight into a race. First they warm up; afterwards they cool down. Both help the body perform well and recover safely. This module is about the purpose and phases of a warm up and a cool down.
Warm up and cool down words
Four ideas run through this topic:
Why warm up?
What is a main purpose of a warm up?
- To prepare the body and help prevent injury
- To make you tired before you start
- To replace the need to train
- To cool the body down
Before and after
A warm up and a cool down do opposite but linked jobs.
What does it do?
- A gentle jog to start
- Stretching the muscles
- Practising some passes
- A slow jog at the end
- Raises the heart rate as a pulse-raiser
- Increases flexibility before sport
- A skill-based, sport-specific activity
- Keeps blood flowing to aid recovery
Why cool down?
A cool down is easy to skip, but it matters. Gentle exercise at the end keeps the blood flowing, which helps remove waste products such as lactic acid. This reduces muscle soreness and stiffness the next day, and helps the body recover faster.
Warm-up purposes
Which THREE are purposes of a warm up?
- To raise the heart rate
- To increase flexibility
- To help prevent injury
- To build big muscles instantly
- To replace all training
In the right order
Put the phases of a warm up in a sensible order.
- Start with a pulse-raiser, like a gentle jog
- Move on to stretching and mobility
- Finish with a skill or sport-specific drill
- Now begin the main activity
Which one?
- Helping to prevent injury
- Increasing flexibility
- Lowering the heart rate slowly
- Removing waste products
- A key aim of the warm up
- A warm-up benefit that comes from stretching
- What a cool down does at the end
- Why a cool down keeps you moving gently
Complete the idea
A _____ up prepares the body for exercise. It begins with a pulse-_____ to raise the heart rate, then stretching to increase _____. A cool _____ at the end lowers the heart rate slowly and helps remove _____ products.
True or not?
Tap the TWO statements that are TRUE.
- A warm up raises the heart rate and helps prevent injury.
- A cool down helps remove waste products from the muscles.
- A warm up should make you exhausted before you start.
- A cool down should be a sudden stop with no gentle exercise.
- Stretching has no place in a warm up.
After the game
What does a cool down help the body to do?
- Recover and reduce muscle soreness
- Run faster in the game just finished
- Skip the need to rest at all
- Cause an injury on purpose
Prepare and recover
A footballer is getting ready for a match and recovering after it. Choose the best action.
- Before the match, what should they do first?
- Their muscles feel tight before kick-off. What helps?
- After the match, how should they cool down?
Explain it
Explain the purpose and phases of a warm up and a cool down for a sport of your choice.
- Give two purposes of a warm up
- Describe the phases of a warm up in order
- Give two purposes of a cool down
- Describe what a cool down involves