Warm-up, Workout, Cool Down, Stretch!

Before you start a workout it's mandatory you do a light warm-up, maybe 4-5 minutes, to heat up your muscles a little and prepare them for some hard work. 

Focus on the muscles you intend to use in your workout and warm-up with some light exercise or a toned down version of whatever you're doing in the workout.

A runner might do a light jog and a weight lifter do some lifts with minimum weights, or you can do some twists and rotations to prepare for a boot camp style workout. Don't forget to consider the temperature, with us folks up here in the cold and snowy north needing to spend a bit more time on warming up properly.

After your workout, you need a cool down and stretch to take advantage of those muscles you heated up during your workout and gain flexibility.

Check out this handy chart of stretches that I found on the internet...

A cool down is a great way to end a workout, especially if you're like me and get heated up and perspire a lot. Really, there's not much point to hitting the shower if you're just going to continue to perspire anyway! haha!

Stretching isn't absolutely critical and I don't always do it myself, being fairly flexible, but it isn't a bad idea and can't hurt if done properly. With flexibility being the objective, doing them after a workout is best because your muscles are warm and you can get the easiest and deepest stretch. Over time your muscles will stay stretched and be more flexible for future workouts.

Tight, tense muscles work against each other and use energy inefficiently, so consistent stretching will improve your flexibility and range of motion and thereby improve your workouts.