Warming up gets your body prepared for strenuous activity such as your run training. It helps your body slowly get to the level it needs to be such as raising your heart rate and stretching your muscles.

After your training or even your race though, you’ll need to settle back down once again. And that’s what cool-down exercises are for.

Benefits of doing Cool-Down Exercises

The main reason for doing cool-down stretches and exercises is the same reason why you did warm-ups in the first place: keeping your body healthy and functioning at high levels.

That being said, here are several benefits of a cool down after your run training.

Getting your circulation back to normal

One of the most important aspects of cool-down exercises after your training is that it gets your blood circulation back to normal levels. As you can imagine, your heart rate is going to be high. You’d want it to slowly go back down to normal levels which doing lighter cooling down stretches will help with.

At the same time, you have a lot of blood pumping in your veins. If you suddenly go from training to resting, this might pool which results in you feeling dizzy. This can also cause other, more serious health problems.

Lower your body temperature

Similar to your heart rate, your body’s temperature would be elevated. By doing cool-down stretching and other lighter exercises, this will begin to normalize in a natural way rather than bring it crashing back down.

Reduce lactic acid buildup

You might not know what exactly lactic acid is, but you do know that you don’t want a lot of this in your body. This can lead to your muscles and tendons stiffening up and even getting cramps.

By doing proper cool-down exercises, you can avoid this buildup in the first place.

What are the Best Cool-Down Exercises

Now that you know why you should do cool-down stretches and exercises, it’s time to learn about the best ones to do after your run training.

The simplest way to do this is to start slowing down what you are doing. If you are running, cycling, or swimming, you can gradually reduce your effort until you are at a stop. Next, you can do a few exercises.

More often than not, your training would impact your entire body, this is because running makes plenty of use of your muscles. That being said, it’s a good idea to do whole body stretching to cool down.

Clasp Hands Behind your Back

This stretch targets your shoulders, arms, and back. It’s a good stretch to start with in order to cool your body down as you would want to relax your back.

To do this:

1. The title really says it all. Stand straight with a wide stance.
2. Clasp your hands behind your back
3. Try to raise your arms away from your buttocks
4. Squeeze your shoulders together behind you
5. Hold this position for at least 20 seconds

You can also do some neck stretches at the same time as doing this. You can roll your head slowly or stretch your neck to each side.

Triceps Stretch

A very popular stretch that targets your shoulders and triceps, you might be doing this already as part of your warm-up. It’s also a good way to cool down.

To do this:

1. Stand up straight
2. Take your right arm up and bend your elbow, trying to reach for the area between your shoulder blades
3. Using your left hand, grab your right elbow and lightly push it down
4. Hold this position for about 20 seconds
5. Do it again for the other arm

When doing the triceps stretch, make sure to keep the engaged arm’s elbow completely bent and pointing straight up.

Calf Stretch

More often than not, run training engages your lower body a lot. This is why doing leg related cool-down exercises are important and the calf stretch is a great start to that.

To do this:

1. Stand facing a wall
2. Put your palms on the wall
3. Step your right foot forward and do a lunge
4. Keep your left leg straight
5. Hold this position for 20 seconds
6. Do it for the other leg

Quad Stretch

Your quads make up for the upper portion of your legs and you’d want to do this along with the calf stretch to completely stretch your legs.

To do this:

1. While standing straight, bend your right leg at the knee so that your right ankle is near your buttocks.
2. Use your right hand to hold onto your right ankle and keep it in position
3. Keep your back straight
4. Hold this for 20 seconds
5. Do it for your left leg

When doing the quad stretch, make sure that the engaged leg’s knee is pointing straight down. You can also stand near a wall to use it for balance while doing this.

Make sure to include these cool-down exercises in your run training regimen so that you perform at your peak capabilities and avoid getting injured.