Warm Down Is As Important As Warm Up, Here’s Why

Cooling down is important to relax your sore muscles. Therefore, a brief time after a match should be spent on cooling down.

                      Rediff.com

Have you ever got a chance to stay back in the stadium after a match? If yes, then you would see the players cooling down after the session. This shows that players put efforts to warm-down as they know, it is as essential as the warm-up.

Most of us hurry down to the ground as we want to just play the game. Though we tend to forget that if we are playing after a long-time, our body and joints are not prepared for upcoming vigorous movements. Hence, dedicating a bit of time to warming-up is important. But have we ever thought how cooling down helps our body?

Simple Cool-Down Routine:

You can start with jogging on the spot at higher speed first and then gradually slow down. This will oxygenate your system and help your heartbeat get back to normal.

As per muscle groups, these are few stretches you can do:

1. Groin Muscles: Stand with your legs wide apart and wider than your shoulder length. Bend your knee and shift your weight on the same knee. Repeat this on alternate sides and hold it for 20-30 seconds. You will feel the stretch in your groin muscle.
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 2. Calf Muscle: Your calves need some love too as they are sometimes the most affected after a strenuous match. Here is a video that shows how to stretch after a game.

3. Hamstrings: As you have just finished playing, you may find a chair or a wall, where you can do this stretch. You can place one leg against the wall and hold this for 10-20 seconds. Repeat this with other leg and do this for 5-10 times.

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4. Torso Stretch: Stand straight and place one of your arms behind your back. Bend on one side and maintain the stretch for 20-30 seconds.

Importance Of Warm-Down:

1. Reducing breathing and heart beating rate.
2. Returns muscles to optimal tension
3. Cools down the body temperature.

Are you now willing to spend some time in warm-down? Or do you want those sore muscles to be stressed more?

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