A cooling down period should follow any workout. The simplest way to cool down is to slow down to a crawl in whatever you are doing. If running then slow to a walk, if you are fast walking slow down to a slow but steady pace.
If you abruptly end your workout, your heart continues to send extra blood to the muscles for a while. Because your muscles have suddenly stopped moving, there is no adequate means of sending blood back to the heart.
Your blood can then pool in your muscles with inadequate blood left to nourish your other vital organs. Without enough blood to the brain, you might pass out.
You might have seen U.S. Marines or Buckingham Palace guards keel over while at attention. This results from blood being sent to the legs. It pools there and has no round-trip ticket back to the heart.
With a large amount of blood pooled in the legs, there is not enough blood returning to deliver an adequate amount of oxygen to the brain, and fainting results.
By tapering your exercise off slowly, your muscles continue to pump blood from the extremities back into your main circulatory system.
If you suddenly stop vigorous exercise and come quickly to a complete rest, you may experience muscle cramps. Muscles, especially if untrained, should come to a halt gradually. Stiffness as well as cramps may be reduced by the slow cooldown from your workout.
Here’s another practical reason for a slow cool-down period. If you jump into a shower immediately after a workout, you have not allowed sufficient time for the excess heat your body has retained to be radiated into the surrounding atmosphere.
Your body temperature will remain above normal until this excess heat has been dissipated. Too hot a shower prevents loss of heat. So by all means make sure you’ve cooled down before your after workout shower.
Follow these after workout tips to make sure you cool down sufficintly after your exercise session.
Source: Get Fit With Val
