Cooling down after a workout - why is it important for muscles? What is a cool-down and why is it needed? Post-workout cool-down exercises.
A cool-down at the end of a workout is the opposite of a warm-up, which is done at the beginning of a workout. The purpose of the warm-up is to warm up the joints, prepare the cardiovascular system for work, fill the cells with oxygen and tune in for the upcoming workout. The purpose of the cool-down is to reduce heart rate, sweating and normalize all body systems that functioned at their maximum during the workout. The transition from an intense workout to a calm state in the final part of the workout is called a cool-down.
Both warm-up and cool-down are often neglected: it’s a pity to waste extra time, energy that could be spent on more approaches, and often just laziness. A cool-down will not only diversify your workouts and smoothly transfer the body from a working training state to its usual direction, but will also protect you from injuries in the future.
Why do you need a cool-down after training?
First of all, a cool down is important for the heart and cardiovascular system. When we exercise, the blood vessels begin to dilate to supply the muscles with blood and nutrients. When a workout ends abruptly, blood remains in the muscles and the heart muscle increases heart rate in order to redistribute the blood to other organs. Thus, the heart becomes overloaded, which is very dangerous and harmful. Post-workout attacks of nausea and dizziness are the first signs of heart overload. When doing a cool-down, the blood vessels are gradually toned, the pulse decreases, and the heart makes a smooth transition to normal operation. Cooling down is useful for relaxing the muscles. After strength training, the muscles “clog” and in order to quickly relieve the “clog” and reduce muscle pain, you need to do a 5-10-minute cool-down.
Stretching muscles is also important, as it increases the elasticity of tissues, and elastic tissues grow faster, better, and remain in working condition longer.
Correct cool down indicator
The hallmark of a proper cool-down is a decrease in heart rate. In the first minutes of the cool-down, the pulse should fluctuate around 110-120 beats per minute, then the pulse should drop to 100 beats per minute.
You just need to devote 5-10 minutes to a cool-down at the end of your workout - it’s not difficult, but the feeling of a full workout and satisfaction with what you’ve done will not leave you until the end of the day.
Cool down exercises
- Static stretching will calm your heart rate and stretch your muscles. Spend 30 seconds stretching one muscle at a time.
- Normal running a jog smoothly turning into a walk is an ideal option.
- Swimming short distances
- low-intensity exercises on an exercise bike, bicycle, elliptical.
In the end, just turn on the music and dance for your own pleasure - dancing is also a kind of cool-down. All this can be included in your cool-down, as a logical conclusion to your workout.
Cool down example
- Jog for 5 minutes.
- Walk while restoring breathing for 2 minutes.
- Comprehensive stretching of the muscles worked during training. 3 minutes.
- Hanging on the horizontal bar in order to relax the spine - according to how you feel, no more than 30 seconds. We don’t jump off the horizontal bar, but gently lower ourselves.
- Warm shower.
Style Summary
Cooling down is an important part of training, without which you lose up to 30 percent in your results. training process. Don't forget about her.
Many athletes do not pay enough attention to the cool-down, considering it a waste of time or simply an unimportant part of the workout. But if that were the case, then why do we see world-class athletes who compete in the CrossFit Games riding an Aerodyne (a training bike that uses air resistance) immediately after finishing the competition?
I also noticed that some athletes returned to the rowing machines after doing the Triple 3 routine during this year's Games. They spent 5 to 10 minutes rowing at a steady, controlled pace. The truth is that cooling down after a workout is just as important as before. But why?
It is important to note that a cool-down is different from an active recovery. The cool-down consists of actions that you perform immediately after completing the WOD, while still in the gym. “Active recovery” is something else physical activity, which you will do when you return home or the next day. During intense exercise, metabolic waste accumulates in your body down to individual muscle cells. The fluid that surrounds them, as well as the capillaries, veins and lungs, should be “pumped” before you begin to rest.
The main purpose of a cool-down is to promote recovery and return the body to a pre-workout state. During an intense workout, your body goes through various stress processes. Are damaged muscle fibers, tendons and ligaments, and waste is released and accumulated in your body. Doing a proper cool-down will help your body in its recovery processes.
Cooling down helps eliminate waste and reduces the blood pool
Strenuous training, of which there is so much in CrossFit, creates metabolic waste products such as lactic acid. This waste accumulates in your body down to individual muscle cells. The fluid that surrounds them (in the capillaries, veins, and lungs) must be “pumped” before you. In addition, vigorous exercise causes the blood vessels in the legs to dilate, which in turn leads to increased blood flow to the legs and feet.
If you suddenly stop after doing the exercises (that is, after finishing the WOD) and do not take time to cool down, then your heartbeat slows down dramatically and blood can rush to the lower part of your body, which can lead to dizziness or even fainting. Serious athletes, whose veins hold more blood, take more risks as their heart rate slows down faster, which is why you often see elite athletes taking time to cool down.
Reducing the effect of sore throat
Attacks of muscle pain that occur later (krepatura) are a known by-effect intensive training. Pain begins to appear 8-24 hours after exercise and can peak 24-72 hours after a hard WOD. Symptoms include muscle pain, swelling and fatigue. Previously, it was believed that the causes of sore throat were associated with the accumulation of lactic acid and the formation of toxic waste from intense muscle work, but now this theory is considered outdated.
Today it is believed that the occurrence of muscle pain after hard training associated with microtrauma of connective tissue that occurs when muscles lengthen and stretch during exercise. It's impossible to completely avoid sore throat, but taking time to cool down after exercise can help reduce the negative effects. Performing low-intensity exercise after a WOD can help clear out enzymes that are responsible for muscle damage and residual fatigue.
Although, of course, the unpleasant sensations from exhausting squats the next day will still remain. In addition, dynamic stretches (which are part of the cool-down) activate the muscles and increase body temperature and blood flow, which helps supply the muscles with the nutrients they need and therefore reduce damage and pain.
Increased flexibility
Post-workout time, cool-down time, almost best time to work on stretching and flexibility. At this point, your muscles are at their warmest and most elastic, making it easier to stretch and reach new levels of flexibility. This is also an opportunity to work on myofascial mobility and ensure that the fascia remains in good tone, as without these stretches it can lead to mobility issues and will limit the athlete's mobility.
Key Points to an Effective Cool Down
Now that we know what a post-workout cool-down does and why it's important, let's look at the structure of an effective cool-down. There are three key points, or stages that must be present so that you can be sure of an effective and complete cool-down.
Calm exercises
Your goal during active cooling is to gradually bring your heart rate to a calm level. When your workout ends, the body should remain active, but the exercises should be performed at a slower pace, lowering it every minute or two. Your cool-down should last at least five minutes, but you may need to spend a little longer if your heart rate is still racing. Usage rowing machine, Aerodyne or are good ways to gradually cool down and, at the same time, work on technique.
Stretching
Stretching after a workout while your muscles are warm is good opportunity achieve better flexibility, which will reduce the risk of injury. Stretching also relaxes your muscles, helps improve blood circulation, and speeds up the release of waste from your muscles after exercise. Stretch each one large group muscles, maintaining a stretch from 30 seconds to a minute. You shouldn't be in pain, but you should feel tension in the muscles being stretched. Dynamic stretching activates the muscles and increases body temperature and blood flow, which supplies the muscles with substances that help fight soreness.
Replenish your supplies
You can lose a huge amount of fluid during training, especially if it took place outside in the heat or high humidity (or in a gym without proper air conditioning). Making sure you drink enough water to replace all the fluid you lost during the WOD is another important part of recovery. Water supports every metabolic function.
After depleting your energy reserves through exercise, you must replenish them if you hope to recover, regenerate muscle tissue, increase your strength, and be ready for the next challenge. Ideally, you'd want to eat within 60 minutes of your workout and make sure you're eating high-quality protein and complex carbohydrates. Plus, this is a good time to get your fix of post-workout. protein shake, in order to feed your hungry muscles.
Unfortunately, a common problem (by the way, not only for beginners) is the lack of warm-up and cool-down before ANY workout: or cardio.
Think for yourself: you are putting a significant load on unheated muscles, joints, and ligaments. What does this threaten you with: injuries, of course. Research shows that only 5% of exercisers do good warm up before training. Why don't others do it?
Many people think that warming up is a waste of time and there is no need to waste strength and energy on it. But only lazy, uninformed people talk this way. You and I know that a quality warm-up helps protect the body from injury and increases the effectiveness of the training.
Warm-up prepares the body for training, accelerates blood in the muscles, warms up muscle tissue, and develops joints. In addition, the central nervous system (CNS) also needs preparation. According to research from the British Medical Journal: “regular, short warm-up and stretching before exercise reduces the risk of injury during training.” DOUBLE ».
Warming up can be compared to warming up a car in winter - it can drive, but it will languish and may stall. So at the beginning EVERY
training we are warming up.
By the way, it’s not clear why everyone is so lazy to do a warm-up, because it fits into 5-15 minutes, and the benefits from it are immeasurable! After all, we are smart people and first of all we think about our health (how not to go crazy in the fight against extra pounds read
)
HOW SHOULD YOU WARM UP?
Warm-up consists of several parts:
- Cardio
- Joint gymnastics
- Stretching
- Technical warm-up
Enough for cardio warm-up 3-6 minutes.
Running or fast walking on a treadmill, exercise bike, ellipse, jumping rope. This pre-workout warm-up phase is designed to general training the entire body for intensive work, remember, they are performed immediately after warming up. The blood accelerates, the pulse quickens, you can safely move on to the next stage of the warm-up before training.
A little life hack: you can skip this step if you get to the gym at a fast pace 😉
Joint gymnastics is based on the principle: “we spin everything that spins”.
Need to without fail rotate your hands, elbows, head, twist your body, rotate your lower back, hip joints stretch, develop your knees and ankles.
By the way, very good joint gymnastics shoulder joint described by Dr. Bubnovsky in the book “Headaches or why a person needs shoulders.” I advise everyone to read it, especially those who suffer from constant migraines.
You can make it a rule to do hyperextension before each workout: this will help protect the most vulnerable part of the spine during training - the lower back.
Main muscles involved: lumbar region spine, additionally loaded: hips and buttocks. Since almost everything strength exercises require stabilization and a trained lower back; it is the lumbar region that beginners should pay attention to. There is no need to wave your arms/legs like a maddened mill - we do everything thoughtfully, efficiently, without sudden movements, slowly, gradually increasing the pace and intensity of the warm-up.
The stretch should be of the intensity that you can withstand; do not try to do the splits or touch the floor with your nose. 3-5 minutes is enough SMOOTH stretch marks.
Stretching We remember physical education lessons: stretch our arms, back, chest, legs. Below in the article is a set of stretching exercises.
This last one is very important stage you execute directly before basic exercises .
When performing warm-up sets, be sure to do classic squats without weight and at least 10 squats with an empty bar - so that the muscles remember the mechanics of the movement. If the working weight is already significant, then we perform warm-up approaches in the range of 30/50/80% of it. This warm-up will protect you from injury and properly warm up your muscles.
Under no circumstances DO WE START WITH THE WORKING WEIGHT!
The same goes for other basic exercises: deadlifts and bench presses. Let the muscles remember the technique first, and then load it.
In addition to the fact that this type of warm-up will help warm up the muscle, it will also increase blood flow in the muscle being trained, which will have a positive effect on its training.
You should be HOT and sweaty after your warm-up, so don't slack off.
HITCH
Again, very few people do the cool-down, apparently exhausted from the training, thereby making a big mistake. A sharp transition “from excitement to rest” negatively affects our health!
It's like a signal to our body: "you can relax". The central nervous system (CNS) apparatus responds adequately to this signal, and the body begins the recovery process.
The goals of the cool down are:
The cool-down is performed at the end of the workout at a slow and easy pace. It includes stretching And mini cardio .
Stretching restores muscles to their former length and elasticity, and at the same time reduces the recovery process. We stretch the target muscle groups during training. Those. pumped your legs - stretch them, not your arms.
Cardio prepares nervous system and muscles to rest. Cardio duration is 5-10 minutes, the pace is moderate to slow.
Just don’t overdo it, you don’t need to run for an hour or try to do the cross splits. If you try to actively stretch your muscles, it may cause injury. So during the cool-down, we don’t try to improve the results of stretching, but simply relax the muscles.
It will also help with recovery after training.
A set of stretching exercises
Performing the exercise: Lower your head down, press your chin to your chest and freeze in this position for a couple of seconds.
Then we move our head back and freeze, performing static stretching of the neck muscles.
Similar to the first two, we rotate the head to the right and left
Exercise No. 1
Press your elbow to your shoulder
Performing the exercise: In a standing position, stretch one arm across the chest. We place the other hand slightly above the right elbow and gently pull the hand towards ourselves, paralleling it to the chest. Above the elbow you can grasp it with both the palm and the back of the wrist. At the static stress point inner part the right elbow is pressed to the left shoulder. We pulled one delta, change hands and pull the other.
To strengthen the exercise, you can bend the arm that you are pulling into elbow joint, moving her wrist behind her back.
Exercise No. 2 Pull your elbow behind your back
Performing the exercise: With your left hand, take the forearm of your right hand and pull it ( right hand) to the left and a little up. At the point where the tension in the middle bundle is felt deltoid muscle(in fact, a stretch point) we linger for the required time, after which we change hands.
Exercise No. 3 Performing the exercise: In a standing position, the arm, bent at the elbow joint, is placed behind the head from behind. We take the other by the elbow of the right hand and pull the right elbow down by the head. At the point where the triceps stretch is felt maximum, we freeze and stretch the muscle for 30–60 seconds, after which we change hands.
Exercise #4 Retracting your arms behind your back
Performing the exercise: In a standing position, we put our hands behind our backs, clasp them in a lock and move this “lock” back and up.
Exercise #5 Stretch from the wall
Performing the exercise: stand with your back to the door frame or wall bars, grab the vertical support with your outstretched hand. We turn the body away from the hand and, feeling the maximum stretch of the muscle, freeze for the required time. Then we change hands.
Exercise #6 Reclining bends
Performing the exercise: We kneel down, then sit on our heels and place our straight arms extended forward on the floor. The heels are placed under the buttocks. We pull our arms forward as much as possible, and, feeling the stretching of the wings, continue to stretch our arms for 30–60 seconds.
Exercise No. 7. You can replace it with the exercise shown in the picture :) Tilts with support
Performing the exercise: For execution this exercise you need to stand in front of the support. For example: a table, or the back of a chair, or a gymnastic goat. Lean your elbows on this object, and trying not to bend your knees, bend as low as possible.
Performing the exercise: We lie down on the floor, rest our hands on the floor and raise our shoulders, i.e. We lie with only part of the body up to the waist. We throw our head back and, without changing the position of our body, pull our shoulders and head back and up. Having felt the maximum stretch of the abdominal muscles, we freeze and remain in this position for 30-40 seconds.
Exercise No. 9 Static lunges
Performing the exercise: We put one leg forward, the other one back. Bend both legs in knee joint to approximately 90 degrees. One knee touches the floor, while the second at the stretch point is at the level of the lower back. We change the angle in the knees: instead of 90 degrees in both knees, we increase the bending angle of the back leg, and on the contrary, we reduce the bend of the front leg. Hind leg we move it back, and vice versa on the front one, we lie down with our whole body. When we feel tense back surface hips, freeze. After stretching one leg, switch legs and stretch the second.
Exercise No. 10 Stretch the thigh surface
Performing the exercise: In a standing position we lift right leg, take it with your right hand, reach it to the buttock and freeze for 30–60 seconds. We do the same stretch with the second leg.
If it is difficult to maintain balance, then you can lightly lean your elbows on a wall or any other object with your free hand, or move your hand to the side for ballasting
Exercise No. 11 Performing the exercise: In a standing position, we bend over and hug ourselves by the knees, i.e. We take ourselves by the ankles and pull the body towards the legs. Ideally, your knees should be level.
Without fanaticism, we stop at the point where the stretching of the legs is felt maximum and freeze for a couple of seconds.
Exercise #12 known as the fold Performing the exercise: the easiest exercise. We simply rise on our toes, pause a little at the point of greatest tension and lower ourselves. By the way, VERY Effective: instantly relieves fatigue from the legs.
Exercise No. 13 After this simple set of stretching exercises, you will warm up well and forget about the pain in your body after training.
Progress and muscle growth have stopped, but have you ever wondered what this is connected with? Have you ever noticed that some girls and men stretch after training? Perhaps you have already lost the logical relationship, what does muscle growth and stretching have to do with it? There is an established opinion that stretching is done to increase flexibility or splits to demonstrate the basics rhythmic gymnastics, but this is far from the case. Stretching is not just part of a workout for those who have nothing to do in the gym, but an important component strength training for both women and men.
Why do you need to stretch after a workout?
Flexibility of muscles and ligaments is not just aesthetics physical development, which girls strive for, and the main tool of any athlete, which contributes to the fastest.
Here is the mechanism of action: under load, the muscles contract and shorten; one might say, they become more and more compressed with each workout and worse or do not return to their normal state at all. Such muscles become overloaded and inelastic. It is these muscles that stop growing, since the full range of motion is important for their growth, and the stretching phase (negative) is no less important here than the contraction phase.
So, when muscles are stretched, they are prevented from shortening and normal levels of recovery are maintained. And recovery is known for its acceleration effect. Thus, by stretching after training, the muscles will be able to rest faster, maintaining elasticity and physiological state, constantly improving the range of motion, and accordingly, the muscles will grow faster.
How to properly stretch after a workout for girls and men
If we talk about stretching after a workout, of course, the muscles are well warmed up and less susceptible to injury, but this does not mean that stretching needs to be intense, sharp, painful and long-lasting.
It's important to understand that for recovery it is necessary to relax the muscles and subject them to slight stretching, but not to sharp manipulations that tear the fibers.
After training, you need to stretch all the main muscle groups, devoting 1-2 minutes to each. It is better if the exercises are static; if the exercise has dynamics, then you should not supplement it with springy amplitudes when maximum extension, which are more damaging to the fibers.
Stretching exercises after strength training
Stretching after a workout in video format
Neck muscles and trapezius
Exercise No. 1
Tilt your head towards your right shoulder, feel the stretching of the neck muscles on the left, if necessary, increase the stretching by pressing your hand on your head from above, hold for 10-20 seconds, and do the same on the other side.
Exercise No. 2
Tilt your head forward and increase the stretch by pressing your palms onto the back of your head. Hold for 10-20 seconds.
Arms and shoulders
Exercise No. 1
Raise your right hand parallel to the floor in front of you, clasp your shoulder above the elbow with your left palm and bring your hand closer to you. Hold for a maximum of 30 seconds and switch hands. The technique allows you to stretch the posterior delta band.
Exercise No. 2
Raise your arms to the sides parallel to the floor and move your arms back as far as possible, each time increasing the extension of the front deltas and pectoral muscles. You can perform smooth springs with an emphasis back.
Exercise No. 3
Raise your right arm up, bend your elbow and place your palm behind your head towards your shoulder blade. With your left hand, grab your elbow and, using light pressure from above, increase the traction of the triceps, hold for 10-30 seconds, then change hands.
Exercise #4
Raise your right hand in front of you, palm facing away from you. Use your left palm to increase the stretch, feeling the stretch in your biceps brachii. Hold for up to 30 seconds and switch to the other side.
Chest, back, abdominal muscles
Exercise No. 1
Go to any stable support and hold it with both hands at shoulder level. Then round your back while holding your arms outstretched. Stretch your back muscles for 30 to 60 seconds.
Exercise No. 2
Stand in a plank position with your feet hip-width apart and your palms under your shoulders. As you exhale, lift your pelvis toward the ceiling, forming a “slide.” Push your pelvis as hard as possible towards the ceiling, and pull your heels and chest harder towards the floor. Keep your knees straight. And so on for 30-60 seconds.
Exercise No. 3
From the previous position, remaining on straight arms, lower your pelvis and hips to the floor, forming a arch in your lower back. If the position causes discomfort, lower yourself onto your forearms. Try to forcefully push your chest forward, without raising your shoulders or pressing into your neck, bring your shoulder blades towards each other. Thus, 30-60 seconds.
Hips, lower legs, buttocks
Exercise No. 1
While sitting on your buttocks, keep your legs straight in front of you. Bend your body forward, keeping your back straight, clasp your shins or feet with your palms, increasing the stretch, but do not round your back, feel the stretch in your thigh biceps. Hold the position for 30 to 60 seconds.
Exercise No. 2
Remaining in the same position, place your feet wide apart. As you exhale, tilt your body forward, stretching your palms as far as possible. Tilt your head and relax, feeling the stretching of the adductor surfaces of the thighs, for about 30-60 seconds. Then tilt the body separately to each leg, holding for the same amount of time.
Exercise No. 3
Bring your legs together, bend your right knee and place your shin on the outside of your thigh, bringing your knees together. The heel should be near the buttock and the thighs should remain pressed together. If the quadriceps extension is very weak, strengthen it by supporting yourself on your elbows, while lowering your body as close to the floor as possible. You can even lie on your back. Hold for up to 1 minute, then rise in reverse order and perform left leg.
Exercise #4
Lie on your back, place one leg bent at the knee on the floor, and lift the other up with a straight knee. Grasp upper leg behind the shin or foot, keeping the knee straight. Pull the sock towards you. Using your arms, add traction to the thigh biceps, pulling your leg closer to your body. Hold as long as possible, then switch legs.
Exercise #5
Initial position as in the previous version, but now instead of a straight leg, the right knee bends and the heel is placed on the thigh just above the left knee. Then grab the thigh of your left leg with both hands and pull it as close to your body as possible, increasing the stretch gluteal muscle. Keep a comfortable time and change sides.
Exercise #6
Lying on your back, spread your legs straight out to the sides, increasing the stretch of the adductor surface of the thighs. You can use your arms to add traction, or you can leave your legs suspended under the pressure of your own weight. Hold for up to 1 minute and relax.
Conclusion
The exercises are available in both easy and complicated versions, so everyone can do them. When they affect muscles, it is not necessary to complicate the load and increase traction. The main thing is to feel that the muscles are tense, as if they are leaving their usual state, but without causing discomfort. Stretching after strength training It should be pleasant and relax not only the body, but also the mind. That's when it will become useful and effective. Remember that there should be no sudden movements or acute pain, otherwise the effect will be the opposite. Instead of relaxing, stretching the fibers will tighten the muscles even more, and their healing will take a long time.
Training can bring great benefit, but can also harm the body. Everyone knows how important it is to master correct technique exercises, adequately select loads and do a warm-up. But many people forget about the importance of such a stage of the training process as a cool-down after training. Neglecting this stage can cause poor health and negatively affect the cardiovascular system. Let's look at why a cool-down is needed and how to do it correctly.
Intense training puts strain on the cardiovascular system. With a sharp transition from tension to rest, the heart and blood vessels do not have time to adjust to a calm mode, and for them it becomes real stress. Cooling down helps avoid this stress and provides the heart with the most gentle working conditions.
The word “cool-down” is formed by analogy with the term “warm-up”. The prefix “for” indicates that the action is performed after the main part of the training, at the end of the process. Cooling down is a complex simple exercises performed after training with the goal of a smooth transition of the body from a tense to a calm state.
Cool-down exercises are low-intensity cardio exercises with a gradual slowdown - running, turning into walking, “riding” an exercise bike, etc. Performing them immediately after an intense workout allows you to gradually reduce your heart rate without negatively affecting the functioning of the heart muscle.
Also included in the cool-down complex are simple exercises for stretching. This allows you to free muscle fibers from metabolic products accumulated during training and increase their elasticity. The total duration of the cool-down is 10-15 minutes.
Why should it be done?
People came to the need for exercises that restore heart rate after intense exercise through an experienced, intuitive way. Probably everyone has encountered the phenomenon when, after a long, fast run, pain in the side and behind the sternum, nausea or dizziness began. Moreover, when stopping, these signs intensified, and if the movement continued at a calm pace, then the painful manifestations gradually disappeared.
To understand why a cool-down is needed, let’s consider the features of the functioning of the cardiovascular system. During intense physical activity hard working muscles require a constant flow of blood, which supplies oxygen and other substances necessary for metabolism muscle tissue. Therefore, breathing quickens and blood flow accelerates due to an increase in heart rate. Powerful and frequent contractions of the myocardium send oxygenated arterial blood to the muscle tissue, and the muscles, in turn, contracting during work, push the used, venous blood back to the heart.
When movements suddenly stop, the heart continues to beat at the same rhythm, but since the muscles stop contracting, the flow of blood back to the heart slows down. Most of the blood remains in the muscle tissue, so the heart works overload, and blood pressure drops sharply. Because of this, the brain and some other organs begin to lack arterial blood, and they experience oxygen starvation. This is why nausea, dizziness, pain in the liver and spleen appear.
As you cool down, your skeletal muscles continue to contract. Its contraction occurs with less intensity, but this is enough for blood to flow faster from muscle groups to the heart, and blood pressure did not drop. In this case, the heart is not overloaded, the brain and other organs do not lack oxygen, and the body functions normally. Gradually, the heart rate decreases to a value corresponding to a resting state.
Cooling down after running or other exercise allows you to return the body to a calm state in the most physiological way. Usually, 5-10 minutes are enough for this. After this, it is recommended to move on to the second part - stretching.
Stretching exercises are useful because they increase the pressure inside the muscle bundles. This helps to “squeeze” stagnant blood out of the capillaries and free muscle fibers from lactic acid and other metabolic products accumulated after intense work. In addition, stretching makes the muscles more elastic and beautiful, while its absence leads to clogged, “wooden” muscles. 
So, a cool-down after training is necessary to:
- calm the pulse in the most physiological, harmless way;
- prevent a sharp decrease in blood pressure;
- reduce the load on the heart;
- calm the nervous system;
- improve metabolism in muscle tissue and speed up recovery processes;
- promote the formation of plastic muscles of a beautiful shape.
When is it needed?
A cool-down in sports is necessary after every workout that causes a significant increase in heart rate, be it strength or cardio exercise. Usually, untrained people acutely feel its need, and their motivation to do a cool-down is quite high. But experienced athletes and bodybuilders often neglect this stage of training, thereby causing harm to their body.
Regular stress on the heart makes it more resilient, which only benefits the body. However, this is only true for the correct load. But loading the cardiac system without taking care to ensure that the way out of the tense state is the safest and most physiological for it is wrong. An experienced athlete may not feel the effect of a cool-down, but this does not mean that it the cardiovascular system does not experience overload.
Stretching exercises are also necessary after any intense muscle activity. By doing them regularly, you can:
- relieve muscle tension after training;
- accelerate the recovery of muscle fibers;
- strengthen ligaments;
- improve your appearance, giving the muscles elasticity and a more elongated shape;
- gain flexibility and dexterity, thereby reducing the risk of injury.
In a word, warm-up and cool-down are necessary for everyone who attends training and is not indifferent to their health.
Basic execution rules
We have figured out the need for the final stage of a sports session, and now let's find out how to do a cool-down after a workout correctly.
Main condition correct execution the hitch is its timeliness. You need to do it without stopping after intense exercise. There should be no passive breaks like “sit and catch your breath.” Otherwise, its entire meaning is lost.
Cardio cool-down
The first part of the cool-down is to bring your breathing rate and heart rate back to normal. Any simple movements, so-called light cardio, are suitable for this:
- slow running with a gradual transition to walking;
- walking with arms extended and rotated;
- exercise on an exercise bike or elliptical at a slow pace;
- slow jumping rope;
- calm boxing of a punching bag, etc.
The duration of the first stage is until the normal rhythm of breathing and pulse is restored. It is individual and usually lasts 5-10 minutes.
Stretching
The second part of the cool-down is stretching the muscles that were under load. It is performed immediately after the pulse returns to normal. Its basic rules:
- There should be no break between parts of the cool-down so that the muscles do not have time to cool down.
- Be careful when performing stretching. It is unacceptable for it to cause pain.
- You need to stretch the muscles, focusing on your sensations. The stretching force is the maximum that does not cause pain.
- It is recommended to hold the stretch for no longer than 2 seconds. After this period, the stretched muscles reflexively contract; this contraction must be avoided.
- For each muscle group, 2-3 sets of 10 repetitions are enough.
Typically, 5-10 minutes are enough to stretch.
The cool-down is no less important part of the workout than the warm-up and main exercises. Systematic cool-down is a necessary condition for the benefits and safety of training.
