My Journey With Weight Loss – The Importance Of Doing a Cool Down

Today I dodged a bulletin. I’m at the trailer and the forecast has been for it to rain. I woke up at 4:30am hearing the sound of heavy rain on our aluminum awning and thought crap, I’m going to get soaked. If I was at home it wouldn’t be a problem as I could use the treadmill but here there is no other option than to head outside. I fell back to sleep really dreading being wet and cold but was determined to train. Luckily by time I hit the road there was a break in the rain and other than dodging puddles I was fine. I know at some point if I spend as much time here as I did last summer I am going to hit rain but it will at least hopefully be during a warmer temperature.

When I do my training I ALWAYS do a warm up and cool down. When I am doing my run interval training it is now a 5 block walk, the run, and finishing off with about a 10 block walk. Yesterday was a hill interval day so I found a great hill in Mission but parked several blocks away from the base of the hill so that I could do my warm up and cool down afterwards.

But why are these so important? Let’s start with the warm up. Basically your warm up allows for increased blood flow to your muscles. This helps get them get prepared for you making them work hard during your workout. It shouldn’t be strenuous, just get things moving.

What is really important is the cool down. One of the significant goals of the cool down is reducing your heart rate out of your training zone. The cool down also can allow your breathing to relax and to help your temperature to come down (this becomes more important in warmer weather). Perhaps the most important benefit is lowering the lactic acid build up. As you are working out your muscles will likely feel a burning sensation. This is because working them hard causes lactic acid to build up in the muscles making the ph levels in them increase. By doing some cool down work you actually help lactic acid leave your muscles and reduce the risk of soreness (note I said reduce the risk and not eliminate it because if you do a really intense workout even with a cool down you may feel it later). There have been several studies done on the impacts of a cool down on muscle soreness and the results have been mixed but I can tell you even doing my 5k I did a fair amount of walking afterwards and my muscles felt great.

So what about stretching? I do a little stretching on my training days but it is not something I spend a lot of time on. It was thought that stretching helps stave off exercise related injuries. However, there has been a number of studies that could not find evidence of this. What stretching does do is increase your flexibility which can be very beneficial to your long term mobility health.

Finally hydration. I read an article that said for every cup of fluid you lose during exercise you should replace it with 2 cups of fluid. My coach reminded me the other day to ensure I was hydrating well after my training. I assured her this was not an issue as I always drink my fibre supplement after all workouts. She also noted I should have a snack afterwards as well. I’ve posted before about how I avoid snacking but I’m pretty sure I can throw in a handful of almonds while I am hydrating.