This 5-Move Cool Down Series Will Help You Finish Off a Run the Right Way
While taking a jog can be one of the simplest ways to get active, there should be more to your running workout than simply stepping off the track or turning off your trackers. Runners, you need to stop skipping your cool down routine.
If your issue is understanding exactly what you should do to cool down, never fear. Physical therapist Daniel Giordano, of Bespoke Treatments in New York City, explains exactly what to do to let your body recover post-run and get you ready for the next time you lace up your sneakers. Best of all? The entire routine — demonstrated with trainer Vaughn Gray — can be done in just three minutes.
Before you get to the stretching, however, you should make sure to close out your run properly. You shouldn't just stop at peak effort and expect to wind down immediately — it's a process.
“Remember, after your next run, go from that run, to the jog, to the walk, because we want to decrease your heart rate and slow your nervous system, getting it out of that heightened state of stress and work that we were just in during your run,” Giordano advises. “After you slow yourself down, get into these stretches to help improve blood flow circulation and help you recover post-run.”
Benefits of a Cool Down
●Loosen tight muscles
●Improve blood flow and circulation
●Address problem areas and aches
●Begins to help your body downregulate
●Helps to aid recovery
5 Cool Down Stretches for Runners
Runner Stretch
This focuses on the calf muscle and the posterior chain on your straight leg, according to Giordano. Hold it for 10 seconds for eight to 10 reps on each leg after you run.
How to Do It:
●Step forward with one leg, keeping your rear foot planted on the ground.
●Bend the front knee to lean forward (you can place your hands on your knee), keeping your rear foot flat on the ground.
●Lean until you feel a stretch in the rear calf, then hold for 10 seconds.
Side Lunge Stretch
This aims to get the inner thighs and adductor muscles loosened up to decrease tension there. Hold for 10 seconds for eight to 10 reps on each side to help provide sweet relief for your inner thighs and groin.
How to Do It:
●Stand with your feet spread out wider than shoulder width apart, toes turned slightly out.
●Bend one knee and lunge to that side, keeping your opposite leg straight. You can hinge at the hip and place your opposite hand on the floor for balance. Hold for 10 seconds.
IT Band Forward Fold
Be sure to initiate from the hips with this forward fold. “This is going to create a stretch to the posterior chain in the back side and also up in that IT band,” says Giordano. “We have to make sure that there's decreased tension in that area because that's where the peak load comes through when you're running.”
Hold it for 10 seconds for eight to 10 reps on each side post-run to decrease tension in your hips and hamstrings.
How to Do It:
●Cross one leg over the other.
●Bend down at the hips, making sure to initiate the movement at the hips when you "fold" forward, reaching down with your hands to the floor.
●Hold for 10 seconds.
Lateral Line Stretch
This exaggerated curtsy lunge of sorts is one of Giordano’s favourite stretches to do after a run. Be sure to reach up as high as you can towards the sky or ceiling during this stretch to target the psoas and your entire lateral line. Again, do a 10-second hold with eight to ten reps on each side. This stretch is really great if you do incline work on a treadmill or run hills, according to Giordano.
How to Do It:
●Keep one foot planted in a forward position in front of you, then shift the other leg behind yourself and to the side in an exaggerated curtsy lunge.
●Use the same arm as your rear leg to reach up and stretch in the same direction as that leg, bending your torso to that side.
●Hold for 10 seconds.
Quad Pull
“The only difference [with this stretch] from normal quad pulls is we're going to hold it for about 10 seconds, not doing that quick, active stretch that we do prior to runs,” says Giordano. Hold this pose for about 10 seconds to try to decrease the tension in the quads post-run with 10 reps on each side.
How to Do It:
●Lift up one leg and grab your foot with the same side hand, pulling toward your body. Maintain balance with the other foot planted on the ground.
●Hold for 10 seconds.
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