Option 2

Aksel is getting older, and it takes longer for him to warm up and cool down if he doesn't want to limp around for the three days following a game. Nowadays, he gets to the rink a couple hours earlier than his teammates and bikes for a while, until his muscles feel loose enough to work them. Then he grabs the elastic bands and crabwalks across the room, rotating his hips and squatting til his quads burn. Then he works on his back and arms, until the guys start coming into the gym and heckling him. It's long and a lot of work, but the team PT says it's good at mitigating injury so he'll keep at it. Post-game cooldowns mainly consist of a lot of yoga. It winds him down mentally and physically, slows his breathing and gets him out of the weird fight or flight mode that games tend to send him into.

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