decreasing blood flow to organs and therefore increasing blood flow
to working muscles
* vasodilation of muscle arterioles/precapillary sphincters increasing
blood flow delivery to working muscles.
~ Increased body/muscle temperature causing a more rapid increase in
transport of the enzymes required for energy systems and muscle contraction.
~ Increase in body/muscle temperature which :
* decreases blood viscosity, improving blood flow to working muscles
* increases the dissociation of oxygen from haemoglobin in muscles
tissues.
The effects of a Cool Down on the vascular system are as followed -
~ Keeps metabolic activity elevated which gradually decreases HR and
respiration.
~ Maintains respiritory/muscle pumps which :
* prevent blood flow
* maintain venous return.
~ Maintains blood flow (SV and Q) to supply oxygen maintaining blood
pressure.
~ Keeps capillaries dilated to flush muscles with oxygenated blood, which
increases the removal of blood and muscle lactic acid and carbon dioxide.
A typical warm up and cool down session for me would consist of -
~ A pulse raising exercise.
For my chosen activity (netball) my warm-ups,cool downs,etc would be done as
a team with the other players.
An example of a heart raising exercise we would normally do would be on the
netball court.
To start, we'd jog around the outline of the court,then cut in on all the other
lines marked out but changing it to side-stepping,heel flicks or high knees so
the warm up isn't so tedius. After about 5 mins of this, we'd all line up on the
backline of the court and say,jog up to the first line,come back to the
backline,then run up to the second line,then back,then finally up to the other
end of the court,then sprint back to bring in abit of competition. After
repeating that two or three times, we'd begin to stretch.
To stretch, we usually start from the neck downwards. We'd stretch the neck
by looking up,then down,then from side to side.We'd then move to shoulder
rolls,pulling the arm over the chest while keeping your arm straight and
bending the elbow so your hand can touch the back of your shoulder,to stretch
the shoulders and top of the arms. To stretch the hips we would do a hip roll in
alternative ways. Wrist flicks and rolls loosen up the wrists and hands. A more
practical way to loosen the hand and wrist would be to flick a netball using
only your fingertips from hand to hand. We'd then stretch the top of the
legs,hamstring,quadriceps and groins. A stretch could be to face both feet
forward and one leg a pace infront of the other,then to lean forward and put
all the pressure on the front leg.Another one would be to bend the knee and
hold your foot by your gluteus maximus. All stretches should be held for at
least 8 seconds before swoping leg/arm to be able to feel a result. Finally,an
ankle roll would loosen up the ankle joints.
Skills are essential to the last part of the warm up. They can prepare you for
a game and can also recap. One skill we could use is where the squad line up
vertically and there is one feeder about 6 m,etres away from them. The first
two players in the line would run up a few stops dodge and the second person
would drive and indicate the opposite way to where the first player runs. The
feeder then has the choice of who she wants to pass to out of the two players.
This skill session helps your spacial awareness so you can pre-scan how much
space is around you, awareness of other players so you can see where other
players run and make sure that you dont run into the same space as them and
also warms up your agility and explosive speed,by moving the body's position
quickly into a dodge,then to explode into a sprint to 'run on' to the ball at
speed.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Another practice we would do would be a slightly more complex one. The squad
is divided into four and these four groups stand in the four corners of the
center third. Two of the groups diagonally facing eachother have a ball. The
remaining two groups (also facing eachother diagonally) are to receive the ball.
The first player of each of the two groups receiving a pass run towards
eachother and as they are about to recive the ball turn left and recieve from
one of the feeders. This practice also helps spacial awareness but also
coordination. The player's recieving the ball must be aware of the person their
running to and the feeder.
After this,we would go into a game situation for about half an hour as it is only
a training session (matches usually last an hour).
After the game, we'd start the cool down. This would be similar to the warm up
but not as long or intense. We'd start with a gentle jog around the court for
about 5mins whilst getting slower and slower so the body can recover. After
stopping we'd stretch following the same routine as the warm up. This would
decrease the risk on injury and would help prevent sore, tired muscles.