How to do a successful cool down

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Session ended, you are tired… but please do a cool down – your body will thank you

Just as warming up in preparation for exercise is important and beneficial to your body, a cool down is just as important and beneficial.

Cooling down after exercise allows your body time to readjust to the pace of daily life and helps minimise soreness the following day. A cool down can also be a great time to give your muscles a much needed stretch out and reduce the risk of chronic shortening of your soft tissues from the repetition of your usual tasks.

The key aspects of a decent cool down include:

  • Allowing your heart rate and breathing time to return to normal taking the time to cool down will ensure you can return to a resting heart and breathing rate and reduce the stress on your body.
  • Give your core body temperature time to return to normal.  You’ve all done it, briskly walked somewhere outdoors and rushed inside and sat down so you weren’t late … and then immediately started to feel like you are overheating and sweating from parts of your body you didn’t even know could sweat! It is important to gradually decrease your activity level and ensure you have reduced your temperature before charging off into the next part of your day. This is to ensure you do not overheat and allows the body to return to a resting level of homeostasis.
  • Returning your circulation from your extremities.  This is important to reduce the risk of dizziness or fainting. When you exercise your circulation increases and is diverted to your muscles, when you stop exercising the rate of your circulation decreases. If this happens too quickly your blood pools in your larger muscles of the extremities and you can experience a drop in circulation to your brain, causing dizziness and fainting.
  • Ensures you can make the most of the feel good hormones that are released when you exercise.  Giving yourself time to reflect on your exercise achievements helps you to maintain a positive frame of mind often gained from exercise. It also allows you to recognise that feel good feeling following exercise and can help to motivate you to exercise again in the not too distant future.

But what should you do?

A cool down should be designed to gradually decrease the speed you are moving around at. Walking for 5-10 minutes is a simple way to do this. It must also include some end of range stretches of all your major muscle groups to increase range of movement and flexibility.