Exercise 101: The Cool-down

The final piece of the workout puzzle should be taken just as seriously as all the other parts. The cool-down allows your body to return to its resting state, slowing down the heart rate, cooling the body temperature, and returning the muscles to their proper length.

If you are finishing up with a cardio session, it will be important to give yourself time in the activity to slow down the pace and ease into your resting state. The more intense your exercises, the more important this becomes, and the more time you will need to recover. If you have been running for 45 minutes at an easy pace, then you may only need a few minutes of walking to allow for your heart rate to come back down, but if you are finishing up with mile intervals, you may want to slowly come out of the last one, going down to a light jog, then to a walk for 5 to 10 minutes. You will know you are recovered when your heart has slowed and your breathing has calmed. Once recovered, you will then move into the second component of the cool-down, stretching.

Stretching will be important after any type of exercise, so if you weight train, you do not have to do a cool-down with the weights, but you will definitely want to stretch. For more information on stretching, look back to Flexibility First and the follow-up, Flexibility Extras. For this blog, I will just make a few quick comments. I must reiterate the need to hold your stretches for 20-30 seconds, and in the case of muscles that are very tight, you may want to get back out your foam roller, work on them, and then stretch. Also, as many times the stretching is neglected, let me recommend some of the most important stretches. If you do nothing else, make sure you do a toe touch and a lunging stretch. This will help your hips to stay mobile, which is important for all major movement. Also, do some sort of rotational twist for your upper back, and for your arms, stretch them overhead. The more you can do, the better, but this is a good place to start.

This concludes the Exercises 101 series, I hope it was helpful and that it gives a better picture on how to organize and think about exercise. Please let me know if you have any questions, I am always open to discussing these topics more. Good luck and happy exercise!

-Colin