By Admin 
A few minutes ago you have finished your workout, and you are eager to jump straight to the shower. But wait – it’s not the time to go yet; let not forget the cool down exercises!
What does Cool Down Exercises Mean?
Stretching exercises are activities that are done at the same pace after attempting a workout in order to bring down the heart rate. They assist one to avoid getting an injury and also to minimize muscle soreness.
Benefits of Cool Down Exercise
Cool down exercises are very beneficial for anyone who engages in any form of physical activity. Some of the following are the benefits of cool down exercises.
That is why it is critical to note that cool-down exercises are as crucial as a workout while they are usually dismissed or ignored. They also come with many uses that can assist in healing, preventing an injury, as well as enhancing your health.
Prevents Injury:
Most causes of muscle strain or sprain can thus be prevented by carrying out cool down exercises since they assist in the lowering of the heart rate, blood pressure and body temperature.
Reduces Muscle Soreness:
Through the flushing out of lactic acid, one gets rid of muscle soreness and stiffness while improving on the flow of blood leading to early recovery.
Promotes Flexibility:
Flexibility can also be achieved during cool down exercises by performing gentle stretches that can expand a particular muscles range of motion which is very essential in minimizing the occurrence of muscle and joint injuries.
Enhances Relaxation:
They also ensure that you calm down for proper mental relaxation wiping away stress in turn preparing you mentally for the workout.
Improves Performance:
This way, your body temperature can gradually decrease and you will not have low blood pressure, dizziness and many other things which may lower the performance.
A List of the Best Cool Down Exercises After Workout
Another important component nearly similar to warm-up is also cool down that also has a direct effect on the performance and prevention of injuries. So, the next time you’re at the gym, to perform your cardio or jogging, don’t forget to warm down and take care of your body as much as you can.
Your workout should not end rushing- give your body the cool down that it needs! Stretching is as important as any other exercise that is conducted in the gym since it assists to reduce the incidence of injuries, increases flexibility, and facilitates muscular recovery.
Shoulder Rolls
Shoulder Rolls is the best cool-down exercise after a workout for decreasing the tension in the shoulders and upper.
Learn how to execute Shoulder Rolls correctly?
- Keep the spine or the vertebrae straight.
- Make circles with your shoulders by first lifting up, then moving backward, going down and finally moving forward.
- Do the same for 10-15 repetitions in one direction and then repeat the same in the opposite direction.
Hamstring Stretch
A Hamstring Stretch is most useful in relieving tightness and tension of the hamstrings after a workout.
They are explained as follows: How to perform the posture of Hamstring Stretch?
- Kneel or squat and fold your legs on your thighs or your shin.
- Slide your arms forward extending them towards your toes as far as possible.
- Inhale to feel the stretch, normally one has to hold the stretch for 15-30 seconds, then exhale as one releases the stretch.
Child’s Pose
Child’s pose is highly useful when it comes to extending the lower back regions as well as when one wants to have some rest after a training session.
- Child’s pose is one of the easiest yoga poses to learn here is how to do child’s pose;
- Cuddle down with your buttocks on your calves.
- Take your arms and extend them in front on your body corsswise.
- The recommended time to hold the stretch is 15 – 30 seconds and then relaxing as you repeat the process.
Static Stretches
Static Stretches are best when done after the exercises have been completed in order to increase flexibility and decrease muscle stiffness.
How it is done Static Stretches?
- You should maintain each stretch for 15 to 30 seconds.
- It is important to work with large muscle groups, to tire them, for instance hamstrings, quadriceps, or shoulders.
- Bouncing and jerky movements should be prevented and the breathing should be deep and regular.
Pilates
Pilates is very effective and best for improving flexibility, core strength and muscle soreness for every person after a workout.
How to do Pilates?
- Do Pilates including Mild Pilates exercises like the “Cat-Cow Stretch,” or “Spine Stretch”.
- At this step stress the importance of deep breath and tight control over the movement of your upper body.
- Try and move as little as you can and never far to avoid disturbing the animal.
Related Article: Men Morning Stretching Exercise
Best Cool Exercise For Kids :
This will help you to find the best cool down exercises ideal for children Below are some of the best cool down exercises that can be used for children:
Daily movement and exercise are critical for children’s physical, emotional, and social health but it is crucial to understand the right time to cool down after exercise or training so as to avoid injury or strain the muscles unnecessarily.
Therefore, it is important to introduce cool down exercises in your child’s daily routine so that they can be able to build a healthy habit as well as support their fitness activity.
Below are some of the best and more effective cool down exercises that the kids should consider after their exercises!
Walking
Walking is the best and easiest way whereby kids can be able to lower their heart rates and consequently allow the body to recover.
How to do Walking?
- ” 5-10 minutes of slow walking is advised.
- Mental relaxation should be taken through practicing on proper breathing and relaxation of the muscles.
- Slow down the speed of the speech and lessons in a day until one can reach the state of silence.
Butterfly Pose
Butterfly pose and Child pose both described above are among the best cool-down activities that help in stretching the inner thighs, hip, and lower back for kids after exercise.
- Learn about the steps that one has to follow in order to perform Butterfly Pose.
- Kneel on the floor with your legs flexed such that your soles of your feet are in contact with each other.
- Put your hands around your ankles and slowly try and pull your knees towards the floor.
- The right type of stretch must be held for 15 – 30 seconds before one relaxes.
Toe Touches
Toe Touches is another great and one of the best cool down exercise that targets on the hamstrings and calf muscles after exercise.
Toe touches is a simple Yoga move that offers numerous health benefits; people with back issues, for example ought to stay away from this move as it places pressure on the spinal column. The move is simple, to do Toe touches, you need to:
- Stance your feet about shoulder width distance or equal to the width of your shoulders.
- Stand with feet slightly wider than shoulder width, and bend forward at the waist then attempt to grasp the toes, and hold the position for 10 seconds.
- As practiced before , sustain the reach in the position for 15-30 seconds then release.
Arm Stretches
Arm stretches are very effective cool down exercise to stretch shoulder and upper back muscles for kids after having exercised.
How Do Arm Stretches Work?
- What you do is You should stand with your feet slightly wider than hip-width apart.
- Stand still and lift one of your arms up to the height of your head and flex your elbow so that your hand is resting on your head.
- Take your other hand and place it on the first hand and apply a slight pressure moving the elbow towards the opposite shoulder.
- It is recommended that the stretch be held for 15-30 seconds and then the exercise should be repeated on the opposite side.
Quad Stretch
Quad stretch is one of the most unique and efficient cool-down exercises that children need to perform to increase the flexibility of the quadriceps.
- Learn how Quad Stretch works and how it can help you relieve pain below.
- The stance adopted should see your feet a little wider than shoulder width.
- Knee one hardly bent and, introducing the heel ahead of the buttock.
- With your hand take hold of the ankle with your fingers and using your other hand, draw your heel towards your buttocks.
- Depending on the intensity of the stretching exercise, try to hold the stretch for anywhere between 15-30 seconds, before switching sides.
Including these cool down exercises in your child’s activity means that your child will never get injured, has flexible muscles and has right healthy habits.
Best Cool Down Exercise After Running
Jogging is one of the best exercises that can be of help to your health and fitness in many ways. But we should also recall that after bodily exercise, such as running, warm down is necessary in order to restore a proper blood circulation.
Additionally, we mention below some effective cool down exercises after running:Additionally, we mention below some effective cool down exercises after running:
Side Bend Stretch
- Side bend stretch is a very effective and vital cool down exercise after running for stretching the side of the body.
- Instructions and demonstration of the Side bend stretch.
- Imagine your stance as one that has feet placed about a shoulders’ width apart and your arms hanging loosely at your sides.
- Move your right arm up to the head and bend forward to the left side politing your right side.
- Extend as far as comfortable for 15-30 and then switch to the other side.
Leg Swings
It is recommended to do leg swings as cool down exercise after running in order to enhance the hip flexibility.
Leg swings is a great exercise to help you strengthen your lower body, learn how to do it by following the instructions below;
- First of all, you should stand with your legs far from each other, but not too wide.
- This containing: Take one leg ahead and behind in altering its posture to straight.
- Do the same for 10-15 swings and then change the leg and continue the same process.
Hamstring Stretch
The hamstring stretch is another obvious and simple exercise to be taken in the cool down process after exercising or running to enhance stretching of the hamstrings.
What are the steps that should be followed in a process of performing the hamstring stretch?
- Assumes a supine position with your legs aligned downward.
- The exercises include lifting a leg up towards the chest, holding a towel or band against an elevated leg and pulling towards the abdominal region.
- Keep the stretch for between 15 and 30 seconds before switching to the other leg and revisting the stretch.
Hip Flexor Stretch
- Stretching hip flexors is the best cool down exercise after running for it and it is called hip flexor stretch.
- What type of instruction would you provide a person if he/she wants to perform Hip flexor stretch?
- Sit on your left knee with your right foot on the ground placed in front of you.
- Bend forward at the hip joint while maintaining a good posture in the back before you feel the stretch in front of your hip.
- Try to hold the stretch for 15-30 seconds and then you change to the opposite side.
Chest Stretch
The last cool down exercise is the chest stretch, which is also one of the best ones after jogging to stretch chest muscle.
- That brings us to the performing of Chest stretch exercise.
- Take a standing position with your feet aligned parallel to each other with a reasonable distance midway between the feet.
- Put your hands together and fold them at the back of your torso while keeping your arms perpendicular to the body.
- Gradually raise both the arms upward behind the back as far as one can feel the stretch in the chest.
- As you perform the stretch, hold for 15-30 seconds.
Please remember, cool-down following jogging is a process of bringing your heart rate down in addition to relaxing your muscles. The following are some of the cool down exercises that should be included in the exercise regimen to prevent some future incidents and help to run better than before.
Tips for Cool Down Exercises are;
These are some practical tips that would be helpful for the proper cool down exercises after the workouts to get better results from workouts.
- Stretch major muscle groups: Concentrate on massage of the muscles that you exercised during the exercising exercise regime.
- Gradually decrease intensity: Gradually come down with exercise intensity and let your heart rate slow down.
- Incorporate deep breathing: Breathe in and out slowly so that you can be able to relax your muscles and keep tension.
- Hold stretches for 15-30 seconds: This provides adequate time for your muscles to relax, and stretch.
- Incorporate foam rolling: You can apply a foam roller on the muscles and apply pressure in order to ease the knots or any tightness.
- Listen to your body: Stretching should not be very painful, thus if one feels a stretch and it turns out to be painful then they should stop or reduce the intensity of the stretch.
- Stay hydrated: Another important aspect is that you should always drink water before, during or after executing the workout.
Following these tips, it will be possible to get the best out of the Cool down exercises and at the same time enhance the overall wellbeing of the body.
Conclusion
So the message of this article remains the same, no matter how experienced you are in the arena or a novice in the fitness center, proper warm down ought to be included in one’s routine workout. They can effectively assist, decrease muscle inflammation, enhance flexibility, and in the broad sense, aid in the recuperation process.
So shouldn’t you take a few extra minutes to stretch and cool down after you next workout? Try to use some of these cool down exercises and you will feel more strong, fit and full of energy in no time!
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FAQ’s
Are you wondering what cool-down exercises are and how they can benefit your workout routine? Look no further! We’ve got the answers to some frequently asked questions about cool-down exercises.
Ques1. What are good cool down exercises?
Answer: Good cool down exercises include static stretches, yoga poses, and light cardio such as walking or cycling at a slower pace.
Ques2. What are 10 cool-down stretches?
Answer: 10 cool-down stretches include hamstring stretch, calf stretch, quadriceps stretch, shoulder stretch, chest stretch, triceps stretch, side stretch, spinal twist, butterfly stretch, and hip flexor stretch.
Ques3. What are the 5 types of cool down?
Answer: The 5 types of cool-down include cardio cool-down, static stretching cool-down, yoga cool-down, foam rolling cool-down, and dynamic stretching cool-down.
Ques4. Do a 5-minute cool-down exercise.
Answer: Yes, a 5-minute cool down can still be effective. Focus on stretching the major muscle groups and gradually decreasing the intensity of your workout.
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