This post is for all athletes. Everything you do happen for a reason. This time round I am posting this article on the importance of doing warm up and cool down before and after workout respectively. Many people feedback that everyone's not doing proper stretching or simply ignored doing it.

Before u start reading the article, let me briefly explain in my OWN words. =]

Put it this way, imagine ur muscles are like rubber bands (if u have no imagination, go and get one rubber band =P ). Try stretching the rubber band once, how do u feel? Tight? Not easy to stretch to its maximum?

So let's read on...

Injury Prevention: Why Stretch?

Overcoming and preventing sports injury

If you are involved in the health & fitness industry, whether it be participating in your favorite sport, coaching, training or just keeping fit, you will know how annoying and debilitating a sports injury can be. In reality, when you have a sports injury you are actually losing on two fronts. Firstly, you are losing simply because your body has been hurt and now needs time and care to repair itself. And on top of this, you are also losing the time you could have been putting into training and improving your sporting ability.

The cold, hard facts

Over 27,000 American's sprain their ankle everyday! On top of this, Sports Medicine Australia estimates that 1 in every 17 participants of sport and exercises are injured playing their favorite sport. This figure is even higher for contact sports like Football and Gridiron. However, the truly disturbing fact is that up to 50% of these injuries may have been prevented.

The professional’s secret weapon

While there are a number of basic preventative measures that will assist in the prevention of sports injury, there is one technique that has slowly been gaining in popularity. It is still not used as often as it should be by the average sports participant, but with the professionals using it more and more, it is only a matter of time before it starts to catch on. Before we dive into this little used technique for minimizing your likelihood of sports injury, let us take a quick look at some other techniques to help you prevent sports injury.

So, where should you start?

Most people are coming to understand both the importance and the benefits of a good warm-up. A correct warm-up will help to raise body temperature, increase blood flow and promote oxygen supply to the muscles. It will also help to prepare the mind, body, muscles and joints for the physical activity to come.

While warming-up is important, a good cool-down also plays a vital role in helping to prevent sports injury. How? A good cool-down will prevent blood from pooling in your limbs. It will also prevent waste products, such as lactic acid, building up in your muscles. Not only that, a good cool-down will help your muscles and tendons to relax and loosen, stopping them from becoming stiff and tight.