8 Best Cool Down Exercises For Any Type of Workout

If possible, try to avoid high-impact exercise like running or jogging as a cooldown: The impact places a strain on your joints that tends to rev you up rather than cool you down.

2. Yoga Plex



• Assume a push-up position: hands and the balls of your feet on the floor — both at shoulder-width — body straight from your heels to the crown of your head.
• Keeping your back flat and your arms and legs straight, lift your hips as high as possible, assuming the downward dog posture. Hold for two deep breaths.
• Step your right foot forward, placing it on the floor just to the right of your right hand. Your knee should be stacked above your ankle. If your hip mobility is limited, simply grab your leg with your hand and bring it forward.
• Straighten your left leg and sink your hips to the floor as much as possible, and hold for two deep breaths.
• Step back to downward dog. Hold for two deep breaths.
• Repeat the sequence above, this time stepping your left foot forward, breathing deeply in each posture. After you have completed the whole series on both sides, return to a standing position, then repeat, running through the entire yoga plex — both sides — a total of four to five times.

3. Lunge and Twist

• From a push-up position, step your right foot forward and place it on the floor to the right of your right hand (your right knee should be near your right shoulder).
• Straighten your left leg as much as possible and keep it there throughout the move. Contract your right glute muscles.
• Reach your right hand under your body as if trying to touch something on the floor near your left hip.
• Reach your right hand up and back behind you, extending your fingertips toward the ceiling. Pull your right shoulder blade back toward your spine.
• Perform 10 reps, switch sides, and repeat.

4. Static Stretching

Static stretching is when you gradually stretch a muscle and hold it for an extended period of time. They’re useful for improving flexibility and cooling down after a workout.

Hold any — or all — of the positions in the yoga plex sequence (lunge, down dog, forward bend) for 30 to 60 seconds. These moves can be some of the most effective cooldown exercises if you breathe fully while attempting to deepen into the stretch on each exhale.

But if you feel tightness in any other muscle groups, like your shouldersspend some time stretching into those parts of your body.

5. Inverted Hamstring and Groin Stretch Variations

• Place a mat on the floor with one of its edges touching the foot of a wall. Sit on your mat facing the wall.
• Lie back on the mat, raising your legs so that the backs of your calves, thighs, and heels are pressed against the wall (it will look as though you are “sitting” on the wall with your back on the floor).
• Keeping your head, upper back, and sacrum in contact with the floor, and your legs and butt against the wall, straighten your knees and flex your feet as much as possible. (If you can’t keep your butt against the wall with the sacrum on the floor, slide a few inches away from the wall.)
• Hold for up to three minutes, then spread your legs into a straddle (as wide as possible) and repeat.

6. Wall Knee Rocks

• Slide backward from the position described above so you can place the soles of your feet on the wall with your knees and hips both bent 90 degrees.
• Slowly rock your knees left and right, stretching the lower back and hips. Continue, slowly going side to side, for up to three minutes.

• Lie flat on your back in a quiet place and close your eyes.
• Focus on your breathing, observing the speed and depth of each breath without altering it in any way.
• On each exhale, relax more deeply into the floor.
• If your mind wanders, refocus on your breath.
• Continue for up to 10 minutes.

8. Egoscue Static Back Pullovers

• Lie on your back with your lower legs elevated on a chair, couch, ottoman, or aerobic step. There should be 90-degree angles between your hips and spine, and between your lower and upper legs.
• While in the static back position, extend and interlace your hands over the center of your chest.
• Keeping your elbows straight, lower your arms overhead, attempting to touch the floor with the thumb sides of your hands.
• Reverse the move and repeat for two to three sets of 20 to 30 reps.
• After you have completed the pullovers, remain in the static back position for five to seven more minutes.

Why Cooldown Exercises Are Important

Cooling down may not burn many calories or build much muscle, but that doesn’t mean you should skip it. Here’s what effective cooldowns get you.

1. They oxygenate your body

Intense exercise increases muscles’ demand for oxygen. As you exercise, freshly oxygenated blood, carried by the force of your beating heart, rushes into your muscles. For the return trip, it’s the repeated pumping of your muscles that drives the de-oxygenated blood back toward your heart and lungs.