An In-Depth Look At The Cool Down
What is a Cool Down?
A cool down is the act of gradually lowering body temperature, heart rate, and breathing rate following exercise.
The purpose of cooling down is to slowly return your body to a lower or resting state. When exercise ends abruptly, blood pressure also drops, which could cause dizziness or fainting. A proper cool down prevents the sudden pooling of blood in your extremities and re-circulates blood back to the heart, skeletal muscles and brain. This phase of your workout helps prevent muscle stiffness or soreness too.
You may see conflicting advice as to whether cooling down prevents post-exercise muscle soreness (also known as delayed-onset muscle soreness or DOMS). However, even if cooling down doesn’t prevent DOMS, the other benefits of cooling down mean that you should always make it a part of your exercise session.
A cool down is the act of gradually lowering body temperature, heart rate, and breathing rate following exercise.
The purpose of cooling down is to slowly return your body to a lower or resting state. When exercise ends abruptly, blood pressure also drops, which could cause dizziness or fainting. A proper cool down prevents the sudden pooling of blood in your extremities and re-circulates blood back to the heart, skeletal muscles and brain. This phase of your workout helps prevent muscle stiffness or soreness too.
You may see conflicting advice as to whether cooling down prevents post-exercise muscle soreness (also known as delayed-onset muscle soreness or DOMS). However, even if cooling down doesn’t prevent DOMS, the other benefits of cooling down mean that you should always make it a part of your exercise session.
Read these two articles on the importance of the Cool Down
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Here are some links to Cool Down Videos:
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