In the previous article, we talked about the warm-up and why it is essential. But what follows now is at least as important. Cooldown, but why? We will explain this very question for you in this article. We have compressed information from all channels for you. You will always find the essentials with us.
ONE: Core body temperature
Your heart and breathing rate slowly return to normal during the cooldown. Your breathing becomes shallower and deeper, your core body temperature drops and you regain your strength.
TWO: Regeneration time
If you stretch after every workout, the recovery time may be shortened. Thanks to stretching exercises, your muscles will definitely recover faster and you will achieve a reduction in muscle tension.
THREE: Metabolic end products
Loose movements and stretching exercises help to remove (venous return) and break down metabolic waste products (e.g. lactate). You should definitely give your body this time.
FOUR: Resynthesis and hypertrophy
While you cool down your body and stretch your muscles, you support the rebuilding of muscle fibers, this is called resynthesis. Finally, it also promotes hypertrophy, namely muscle growth.
FIVE: Fascia
Stretching exercises help the fascia (connective tissue) around the muscles to relax. This reduces the risk of injury and allows the muscles to move more.
Gentle stretching exercises stretch the stressed muscles as far apart as possible, but this only affects the connective tissue. The muscle itself does not stretch. However, the fascia that surrounds the muscle becomes more flexible. There are mainly two types of stretching.
Static stretching: Here you hold the stretch for about 15-30 seconds per muscle group, with two to three repetitions.
Dynamic stretching: In this variant, the muscles are not constantly stretched, but are alternately lengthened and relaxed again. Dynamic twisting movements or swinging exercises are also typical for this type of stretching.
Which muscle group should be stretched in which form and intensity varies depending on the load and training goal.
