Stretch yourself.

It’s important to warm up before any exercise. If you’re carrying out aerobic work (running, cycling, stepping, cross training, rowing, stair climbing etc) your warm up should be a lighter, slower version of the activity to follow. If you’re about to go on a run, for example, you should start with a brisk walk and progress to a light jog - only breaking into a full run after a good ten minutes of warm up.

When weight training, you should begin each exercise with a minimal weight. Then build up gradually until you reach the weight you want to start your training at.

Current research suggests that there’s little or no benefit to static stretching before you carry out any exercise. However, it’s very important to stretch afterwards. As well as helping to ‘warm down’ your muscles, post-exercise stretching will increase your flexibility. You should try to stretch the relevant muscle groups for a minimum of 20 minutes after each training session.

To give you some pointers, we’ve included a variety of stretching exercises below. If you are unsure how to perform them, please seek professional advice.