Cool down exercises are important to complete every single workout that you do. Just imagine driving a car and you change gear from gear 4 to gear 1 immediately. Now my knowledge about cars isn’t that extensive, but doing that will probably do some damage to your engine.
I do hope that I got that piece of information right!
Cooling down effectively helps you to prepare your body to move from a state of intensive exercise to a state of doing regular daily activities. Therefore, it is important that you take this seriously.
What Are Cool Down Exercises?
Cool down exercises aren’t specific. When you warm up for example, you need to do some light aerobic activities and then start on some stretching exercises. However, cool down exercises basically mean to lower the intensity of your workouts before stopping your exercise.
This means that towards the end of your exercise routine, you should not stop immediately. Gradually lessen the pace at which you exercise. You could start to jog on the spot for five minutes, and slowly come to a stop.
There are various other methods. Some might choose to jog on the spot and finish off with some stretching. Others might do a few more star jumps, and then take some deep breaths while walking around.
The easiest method would be to walk around. Then finish off with some stretching exercises. I think this is worth repeating again, so I shall.
Finish off with stretching exercises. Please do not forget this or skip it altogether.
Why Are They Important?
After working out, your muscles are “warm” and they are ready to be pushed to the limit. If you fail to cool down and simply quit your workout abruptly, your muscles are forced to go from a warm zone to a cool zone in a short period of time.
This causes muscle tension. Imagine pouring hot water onto a cold piece of glass. It will crack. In the case of your muscles, you will experience pain and even muscle tears.
Cooling down sufficiently will prevent you from facing such injuries. So take some time after your workout and cool down. An extra five minutes spent on working out is not going to kill you! In fact, it will provide you with great benefits.
Final Words
Cooling down exercises are quite straightforward unlike warming up. Warming up is rather technical, requiring you to do sufficient aerobic exercises as well as stretching and other flexibility workouts.
When you come to the end of your workout, just slowly and gradually come to a stop. Do not end your workout suddenly, or worse, not taking some time to stretch.
Make your workouts enjoyable by warming up and cooling down before and after your exercises respectively. No one wants to get injured, so stay on the safe side with proper knowledge on cooling down.