Cool Down

Eight…nine…ten!!! You drop the weights and breath a sigh of relief that you are finally done your workout. Now what? Time to hit the showers and head home? There is one last thing that needs to be done before you can say you are truly finished. It’s time for the cool down.

The cool down is the time for your body to mentally and physically recover from the exercise session you have just finished. The cool down, which is also known as cardiovascular recovery, allows your body to return to a normal pre-exercise state. During exercise your body is in a state of positive stress. Your body shunts or directs blood to working muscles to provide oxygen for contractions. By engaging in an active recovery, you won’t let this blood pool in your muscles.

A cool down is as simple as reducing your speed or intensity if you are doing a cardio session. If you have just finished your resistance training, all you have to do is take a few minutes and jump on a cardio machine. You want your cardiovascular system to return close to your state of rest and distribute blood throughout the body rather than to the muscles you have just trained. Also, when you exercise you create an oxygen debt. This gradual reduction allows your body to catch-up or store oxygen for the next time it is needed.

A quick cool down at the end of your training session does wonders for the recovery of your body.  It is a good way to let your body gradually return back to normal and get the blood circulating throughout the body. Like the warm-up, the cool down lets your body gradually switch gears. If you stop exercise without a cool down you put considerable stress on the cardiovascular system. Mentally it gives you the chance to stop and think about how your training session went. It allows you to think about what worked and what didn’t, how the session made you feel and what changes can be made the next time around. 

So next session, when you squeeze out that last rep, head over to the eliptical trainer and take the five minutes your body needs. It’s a great way to finish a workout and look back at what you just accomplished.