Cool Down Stretches
On completion of your workout or sporting activity, it's important to bring your heart rate back down slowly and gradually prior to easing into a number of suitable stretches.
In your cool down period, keep moving such as walking at the end of your run, to prevent your muscles from becoming locked up by blood pooling - (basically poor blood flow).
Do you really understand cool down stretches and why they are important? When you train, the cool down is almost important as the warm up. However hot you feel, it's worth wearing warm clothing if it's cold in order to keep the muscles warm prior and during your stretching.
When you do coll down stretches, hold each stretch for a minimum of 20-30 seconds, breath comfortably, with deep breaths through your nose, and out via your mouth.
Below you'll find a number of our favourite cool down stretching exercises that we know help to alleviate not only potential injuries, but also to maximise the stretch for that muscle group.
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Easy Calf Raise Down
1. Stand on a raised platform, on the balls of your feet, holding onto a secure object for balance. |
Try all of them, but do not put too much pressure on your muscles for the first stretch. We have also graded them to help you understand which may be the best for you to try first.
The more time you spend stretching your body, the greater the understanding you will have of the benefits that your giving it.
Click on the following page links to learn how to stretch all of your major muscle groups
