What motivates one to finish an intense workout session? The quick rush of endorphins and the “feel good” feeling along with it.
We always push ourselves a little more with each set of exercises to meet the goal. But do you know cooling down after a workout is equally important as your warm-up routine?
Yes, you heard it right. Continue reading this article to learn why cooling down after exercise is important. Here in the article, we shed light on the benefits of cooling down after exercise sessions.
This is your beginner-friendly guide to learning everything about cooling down and much more.
What is Cooling Down?
It has a similar concept of warming up. After you finish your workout regime, you continue working out for 5-10 mins more but at a slower pace. This is what a cooling down essentially is.
So, there are several ways in which you can include a cool down in your post-workout routine.
Worry not if you have just started and everything seems foreign to you. We will guide you to pick up your most suitable ways of cooling down.
Before moving forward, let us first understand why it is necessary to include it in your routine.
Why is Cooling Down After Exercise Important?
We all know warming up before working out prevents your body from injury. Warming up before starting your exercise also helps in increasing heart rate gradually.
So, in a very similar way cooling down helps in reducing the heart rate to normal. It also helps the body to avoid injury.
Before you make up your mind about skipping this, let me introduce some valid arguments to change your mind.
#1. Regulating the Heart Rate
It is natural for your heart rate to increase significantly during the working out session. So, it is necessary to regulate the heartbeat to normal slowly. If you stop working out suddenly you might feel dizzy.
This happens because your blood pressure drops suddenly. That is why adding cool down to your routine helps in avoiding sudden drastic drops in blood pressure.
#2. Prevent Injuries
Same as warming up, cooling down also prevents your body from injuries. You often face muscle tears or stains after exercising. That can be easily avoided with a cool down.
Your muscles need to be stretched out while they are still warm, it prevents straining.
#3. Feel the Relief and Get Relaxed
Working out not only benefits your body but also improves one’s mental health too. Exercises help both your mind and body.
During the cool-down session as your mind and body gets relaxed, your body starts releasing dopamine and serotonin. These hormones are associated with a happy mind.
#4. Reducing the Lactic Acid
In our body lactic acid builds up after a heavy workout session which leads up to cramps and stiffness. The cooling down process helps in speeding up the whole process.
#5. Body Restoration
The body goes through several changes during the workout session. So, it is necessary to restore the normal condition of the body. Cooling down helps in that process.
So that is how cooling down process benefits your body! Let us tell you about some more of its benefits also.
Benefits of Cooling Down after Exercise
We often skip cooling down simply because of a tiring workout session. But do you know maintaining a proper cool-down session can benefit you further?
There are several benefits of cooling down. Here’s a quick look into the benefits of cool-down routines.
- Cooling down ensures your additional benefits from an intense workout session.
- It helps in slowing down breathing.
- Cooling down gives you the time to relax from the hectic routine and reflect upon your daily bodily achievements.
- It often helps in pain and stress relief.
So now we are moving towards ways to cool down without having any ill effects on your health.
How Should You Cool Down?
Now that you know the importance and benefits of cooling down, you might have a few questions in your mind.
Relax! We got you covered here.
Your 5-10min cooling down regime depends upon what type of workout routine you follow. If you are more of a runner or a cardio person then you start cooling down by reducing the pace.
Here is a list of activities that you can include in your cooling-down routine.
#1. Stretching
Stretching is a great exercise that can be included in your cool-down routine.
There are different sorts of stretching exercises. Like leg, stretching might be beneficial for a runner. Lunge stretch or Hip flexor stretch should definitely be part of your routine if you are a runner.
Stretching helps the heartbeat rate to get to normal. It also helps in releasing muscle tension and increases flexibility.
Some other choices of general stretching are Buttock Stretch, Wide Toe Stretch, and Arm stretching. These general stretch routines can be followed after any sort of workout routine.
#2. Walking
A slow nice work can be the perfect choice of cooling down the process for anyone. This helps your breathing to get normal.
This is the most classic way for your body to get back to its normal form. Walking is also one of the most common easy cooling down routines.
#3. Yoga and other Exercises
Yoga poses help in calming down your breathing and heartbeat rate to normal. It also helps in increasing flexibility.
Seated twist, Plank, Up Dog, and Cat Cow are easy yet effective choices of exercises that can be done while cooling down.
So with this we hope that you were convinced on how cooling down after exercise is important. Thus let’s wrap it up with our final words.
Final Thoughts
It is clear by now that cooling down is not something that you wanna skip from your routine. The importance of Warm up and cool down is equal.
Therefore, even when you feel like giving up after working out, never forget to cool down. Push yourself for a few minutes more and complete your preferable cool-down routine, to see better results.
