The Amazing, Exciting, Brand New Cool Down!

Categories: Blog Nov 19, 2014

Everybody knows you’re supposed to cool down after a workout, right?

In fact, we all know the common workout structure is as follows:

Warm Up
Workout
Cool Down

So let me ask you a question:

How’s your Cool Down?

What is it you do for your Cool Down?

“Uh… Uh…” (Stares sheepishly at the floor…)

The Cool Down is a period of 5 to 10 minutes that helps you transition from an aroused state created by your workout back into normal life. It’s supposed to help you shift from a sympathetic dominant state - you know, “fight or flight,” back to a balance between your sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems.

This balances your stress hormones and anabolic hormones and not only starts, but can, when
done properly, speed up your recovery process.

And recovery is the critical component in the adaptation process. It doesn’t matter how much or how hard or whether you had a “killer” workout or not. What matters is whether you can recover from that workout or not. Recovery is what most people overlook in the training process. And if you can’t recover, you won’t see the results you’re looking for.

So a proper cool down initiates the recover processes.

Normally, I’d suggest that the tougher your workout, the longer or at least more involved your cool down should be.

For example, I remember one particular training cycle, my workout lasted 40 minutes, and my cool down was 30 minutes. Seriously. But what I did in that 40 minutes was intense and warranted that 30 minute cool down, which consisted of riding an exercise bike for 10 minutes, sauna for 10 minutes, and a contrast shower for 10 minutes.

I normally do some form of OS - rocking or crawling - as a cool down followed by either a hot or contrast shower, as the mood strikes me.

Two nights ago, I tried something different, and altogether ordinary.

The temperature is cooling down here in the Rocky Mountains. Last weekend we saw -3 F. It was a little brisk.

I went for a “walk” with my family. It was chilly and all I had on was a t-shirt and sweats. I was going for the whole “cold exposure” thing. (Cold exposure has been shown to boost your immune system function.)

I wrote “walk” for a reason.

It turned into a “Daddy, chase me!” session where my 3.5 year old son either wanted me to chase him or him chase me.

So, along with some walking, I did some “running,” and some fast-paced walking. We walked around the block and we were gone about 10 or 15 minutes. It was a blast!

Last night was similar. I bundled my daughter up and put her in the stroller and went for another walk.

Both nights, even though shorter on sleep than I normally prefer, were amazing in their quality. And the best part was how great I felt getting out of bed. (Does anybody really feel great getting out of bed? It always seems like there’s more sleeping to be done…)

So there you have it:

Walking.

It’s the new cool down.

It makes sense. It’s the reset we’re meant to do the most of anyway.

So if you’re using any sort of weight training program as your main means of working out, throw in 10 minutes of walking as your cool down. You’ll be pleasantly surprised not only how good you feel after, but how good you feel the next day as well.

I predict it will become all the rage. And all the cool kids will soon be doing it.  ;-)

 

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