We’ve got to start with our ABC’s.

Everything we do at Jogging Pals is underpinned by the fundamentals of athletics activity – Agility, Balance & Co-Ordination.

We always try and do daft stuff, or rename the serious stuff, to make it more fun. That way, it’s activity by stealth.

Each week we’ll look at an activity that you can do easily at home, especially with children.

Top tip number one though, which we hope everyone can manage, is to get hold of some playground chalk. If you’ve got access to a small amount of outdoor space, or have an indoor space with a hard floor (lino in the kitchen or even the bathroom), it’s an ideal wipe/wash- away tool that we can use to mark out an area.

For the first week, we’ve got to focus on warm-ups, or dynamic stretching – this is all about preparing the body for the activity we’re going to do.

The older you get, the less stretchy your muscles are, and the more important it is to do this.

We’ve got some short videos on our YouTube channel that can help with more of the warm ups, but just as a starter, we’ll do one for arms and one for legs.

Windmills

Put your arms out to the side to make sure you’ve got plenty of room.

Gently start rotating your hands and arms forward in small circles, until you’re making big circles with them.

Do this 10 times, then switch so you do the same but move both arms backward.

Moving on to test your co-ordination, start with both arms in the air, then move one arm back, and one arm forward.

Do this 10 times, then switch which arm goes forward and which goes backward.

High Knees/Marching/Fast Feet

Start off marching on the spot.

Raise knees up in front of you, so they are parallel with the ground, and make sure you swing your arms back, as you would if walking.

Slowly build up so you’re jogging on the spot, making sure you’re bringing your knees up high still.

Then do Fast Feet for the count of 5,4,3,2,1 (or imagine the floor is lava or hot coals), go back to a jog for the count of 5, then Fast Feet again. Repeat this three times in total.

The aim of warm-ups are to get you a little out of breath, raise the heart rate and get your muscles warmed up ready.

For the next few weeks we’ll be looking at some great jumping games you can do, so warm leg muscles are essential. They’re brilliant exercises (known as plyo or plyometrics) and are used to increase your speed, endurance, and strength.

Also known as jump training, plyo is usually geared toward highly trained athletes or people in peak physical condition.

We use them to improve fitness for our athletes from four to 74 years of age, and use them particularly to build leg strength.