Cool-Down Exercises: The Often Overlooked Part of Exercise Routine It feels great to finish a workout strong, especially if you reach new heights and surpass goals that seemed impossible just days before. You feel like celebrating your accomplishments and be proud of yourself. But, is finishing your workout strong well? Is this enough for your body and celebrate your accomplishment? According to us, it isn’t. It’s good to work hard for hours and sweat your body. But, you shouldn’t finish your regime without cool-down exercises. People often ignore this part of the exercise and suffer later in their lives. If you work with a personal trainer in South London, you will find that experts never end the workout session without cool-down exercises. Just like a set of exercises for a primary workout schedule, there are set of exercises defined by fitness experts for post-workout.
Reasons to perform post-workout cool-down exercises Reduces strain on your body During the extensive workout, the heart pumps blood quickly to the muscles, blood pressure rises to compensate for the increased blood flow and breathing becomes 4 to 5 times faster in an attempt to keep up with the body’s oxygen needs. If you drop suddenly or not move at all, your heart rate will begin to drop immediately but your blood vessels will remain dilated to accommodate the increased blood flow to your muscles. And thus, blood will pool in your legs and lead to dizziness or even fainting. With cool-down exercises, you will breathe easier. Also, your heart rate and blood flow return to normal slowly without any dizziness. Stops stiffness in the body During exercise, the liver releases something called glycogen. Once all the available glucose in your bloodstream is used by your body, it starts using oxygen to break glycogen for energy. If there isn’t enough oxygen (which usually happens after exercise) in your body, it will produce lactate that is converted into energy without oxygen. Lactate or lactic acid starts building up in the bloodstream. But if this buildup is faster than your body can burn, it will pool up in your muscles and cause soreness 24 to 48 hours after a workout. It is known as Delayed onset muscle soreness or DOMS. You will be uncomfortable. Cool-down exercises will prevent the lactic acid from pooling in your muscles and causing soreness. A few short exercises will burn all the lactic acid build-up and you will not feel the soreness. Sometimes, you might not burn all the lactic acid, but still, you will feel better. Prepares for future workouts