Cool Down Conditioning

In reading my previous blog, Warm-up Why, we talked about how many people don’t have the time or make the time to do warm-ups as a part of their workouts. Sometimes people skip the warm-up to get their workout done faster or they don’t know how to properly warm-up, so they just move past that part of their workout.

Well unfortunately many people treat the cool down in the same way. Skipping the cool down to get to the shower faster, to make that hot cup of coffee they are always ready for post workout or to get to work on time. Whatever the reason, the cool down is an important part of your workout, and you can really optimize exercise when you intentionally carve out the 5 minutes to do a cool down.

Here are some of the great benefits to adding a cool down to your workout:

As you can see, the cool down IS as important as the warm-up in the benefits that it has to your body and your workout. In terms of optimizing the workout, preventing injury and any additional stress on your muscles, this is not something to miss out on.

So, then it comes to what type of stretching or movements should you do as a cool down?! Well if you are doing a running workout, then walking to help your body recover can be a great place to start. The same can be true for cycling and swimming where you slow down the workouts for an active recovery.

But if you are doing other types of workouts and looking for stretching to cool down, we recommend static stretching versus dynamic stretching. Now remember dynamic stretching is recommended as a warm-up to help your muscle move through the motions that they are about to complete in your exercise. Dynamic stretching is when you move through the range of motion without holding the motion for any length of time. This is safer before your workout to ensure that you don’t injure your body during your exercise routine.

Static stretching can be similar to dynamic stretching, but it is where you hold the movement for a prolonged period of time. Depending on the muscle group and how your body responds to static stretching, you can hold the movement for 30 seconds or longer and repeat it 2-3 times on each side. The length of time and repetitions depend on how long you have to complete your cool down and how many muscle groups you are focusing on to stretch.

Static stretching has its own benefits to your health:

As you can see, there are so many reasons why you should consider adding static stretches to your cool down. When picking the best static stretches for you, they should be focused on the muscles that you just used for your workout. Just like your warm-up being focused on getting your body ready for the workout, your cool down should be focused on the same. The difference is that you will use dynamic stretching to warm up safely and static stretches to cool down optimally.

Start slowly with completing static stretches and remember to use pain as your guide. A low level of discomfort is okay, but you should not be moving into a painful range with static stretching. Use slow, gentle movements avoiding bouncing or jerky motions when stretching. Make sure that you breathe while you stretch! This is so important to optimize oxygen in your body and enhance your recovery.

Some Ideas for Static Stretches:

This is just the start to give you some ideas of how to stretch and what to get started on for your cool down static movements. Remember that a skilled physical therapy, such as the ones at Breakaway Physical Therapy, can help guide you with the perfect cool down routine that will be tailored to your workout. All you have to do is come in for a free consultation to sit down with one of our experts. Give us a call at 410-721-6333. We want to help optimize your workouts, enhance your exercise routines and enrich your health. Let us know how these stretches go, and we are here to help!