Team Fitness Gurus: Creating Your Fitness Plan No. 6

Cooling Down

As an athlete, it is important to incorporate time for cooling down after your workout. This is essential because it will help you return to your baseline level of functioning, and it is during the cool down that stretching is more effective for range of motion and flexibility in general. A good cool down will gradually decrease the heart rate and metabolism to its resting state and allow the body temperature to return to normal. In addition, cooling down nurtures the muscles so that the possibility for soreness and cramping are greatly reduced.