Before we look at the cool down strategy of one of the most successful players in world football, I'll ask you to think about the cool down tactics, if any, of you and your team-mates.

One of the biggest myths in sport is that you get fit by being active. This is not true. You get fit when your resting after exercise.

So it makes sense then that you need to have the correct recovery strategy to allow your body to recover and begin to rest as quickly as possible.

Without the appropriate recovery techniques after performance, your body is working too hard to repair its self from the inevitable damage of physical activity and is the reason you wake up the next day with the aches and pains - when this happens your not resting, you are still recovering.

In Los Angeles last week what I witnessed from studying David Beckham was truly special and evidence to me why he has not only been incredibly successful throughout his career, but also consistent.

It was the final home game of the season at the Home Depot Centre and as soon as the game ended, players did the customary lap of honour and an on-field presentation lasting about 20 minutes.

What was interesting at the end of the ceremony was that only Beckham and one other player stayed on the pitch to do a proper cool down.

There's a great saying that is used by professional football managers and coaches when talking about other players: How you do anything is how you do everything.

I get the impression that Beckham does everything correctly.

Here's what Beckham did and you can follow this each time that you train or perform as it's just as important to cool down after training.

The cool down is split into two phases and the whole thing should take approx 15 minutes.

In the first phase, do as Becks did with approximately seven or eight minutes of very gentle jogging, sometimes walking and always carrying your isotonic fluids or post game recovery drink.

Phase two, again seven or eight minutes, is static stretching, This is the traditional type of stretch where you hold the muscle for 10-15 seconds. Nearly every professional footballer will finish the cool down with an ice bath.

You need to be submerging your body in cold water for approximately ten minutes. Do this, and you have the perfect cool down routine to match that of the best players on the planet.

Throughout the cool down (I often hear grassroots coaches call it a warm down) you are basically trying to cool the body down naturally, return the muscles to their correct length and with the ice bath, limit any muscle damage that will have inevitably taken place.

As a player or a coach you now know the importance of a cool down and how to integrate this into your team this weekend, as a parent you also have a part to play in allowing your child the time to participate by not putting pressure on them to be in the car as quickly as possible.