Cooling down after your workout is crucial to your health and there’s even more benefits to it than you might have thought. In this blog post we’ll be giving you a brief introduction to why you should never skip your cool down.

Cooling down is the transition between exercising and resting. You’ll be giving your body the possibility to come back into a steady state by reducing heart rate, breathing rate, and body temperature. If you skip the cool down, your heart rate will drop rapidly, causing lightheadedness. You’ll also be preventing the blood from pooling in your lower extremities, which can otherwise cause dizziness or even fainting.

And in the following days, you’ll thank yourself for cooling down since cooling down prevents feeling sore and stiff because you help your body reduce the lactic acid in your muscles and let them return to their usual state and length.
After some slow movement and while you’re still warm, you also shouldn’t forget to stretch the muscles you’ve trained and stressed most to improve flexibility while it’s easiest. Don’t forget to take deep breaths and relax. And while you’re at it, don’t forget to give yourself some credit for what you’ve achieved and let yourself reflect on your workout and think about how you can improve even more next time.

Depending on what your workout looked like, you’ll have to adjust your cool down. After jogging, just walk for some minutes and stretch your legs standing and sitting down. After a strength training, stretch the muscles you’ve used most or do a full body stretch. And after your velocity classes, listen closely to what your instructor tells you! You’ll be cycling some slow laps and then you’ll stretch out as well, so trust your instructors. You’re in good hands 🙂

References:

https://www.active.com/fitness/articles/importance-of-cool-down

https://www.sharecare.com/health/flexibility-training/why-important-cool-down-exercise