Post Exercise Care
Benefits Of Cooling Down Exercises:
1. They get your blood flowing from away from your muscles and get back to your heart.
2. This not only prevents dizziness, sudden change in blood pressure, cramping, nausea but it prevents muscle soreness and injuries.
About Food:
- It’s also important to eat something within 45 minutes to an hour after your workout, and that too should be a balance of carbs and protein. A workout depletes your glycogen stores, and if you don’t refuel, your body will once again turn to your muscle mass as an energy source.
- Some people suffer from a post-exercise ‘low’, where the blood sugar dips and they feel faint or weak. Keep a carbohydrate snack on hand, such as a cereal bar, to eat after exercising to combat this. It is best to avoid eating a full meal immediately after exercise, and ideally you should wait at least an hour before doing so. Appropriate post-workout meals include a protein shake made with low fat milk or soy milk, a bean and cheese burrito, or chicken with broccoli and brown rice.
- Meals should be high in carbohydrates to replace the lost energy, and high in protein, especially if you are looking to add muscle. You should also continue to drink plenty of water to replace lost body fluids, even if you don’t feel thirsty. It’s also a good idea to check your feet after exercising, looking for any reddened or warm areas that may turn into blisters. Many athletes stretch after exercising as the muscles are warm and flexible, and although experts recommend this should be done by everyone, it is often ignored. Stretching helps to relax the muscles and bring them back to their resting length. While your muscles are warm they are far more responsive to stretching and less likely to strain. Try to allow at least 10 minutes of stretching for every hour of exercise you have done. Include all the major muscle groups in your stretch and give them at least 20 to 30 seconds, two or three times. These precious 10 minutes will keep your body in peak condition for your next round of exercise, and significantly reduce the chance of injury.
- If you crave to eat something sweet, then a small piece of fruit or a handful of berries would be okay. Just make sure it’s something that nourishes you, not something that is high in calorie, like chips, chocolate bars or pastries. And whatever you choose do not ever eat it in front of the television. Food should always be enjoyed consciously, not eaten when you are not aware full what you eat, it almost guarantees you will either have something unhealthy, eat too much, or both.
Tips: Rice and pasta are good foods to eat after exercising, as they are high in energy-giving carbohydrates. It is best to wait at least an hour after exercising before you eat a large meal. You can eat a high energy snack in the meantime. Stretching muscles after exercise will help to guard against aches and pains the next day and will reduce the chances of sustaining an injury.
