I think I may be cooling down wrong. At the moment I do my HIIT and the 4 mins cool down is done at 60%. I then wander about the gym for a few minutes afterwards before i either go home or do some continious training. Is that a good way of cooling down?

I always thought cooling down meant resting..

I think I may be cooling down wrong. At the moment I do my HIIT and the 4 mins cool down is done at 60%. I then wander about the gym for a few minutes afterwards before i either go home or do some continious training. Is that a good way of cooling down? That's exactly what I do. So far so good! :tu:

Since I do my Abs on cardio days I wander around and take a few sips of water then do my abs. By the time I'm done with my abs I'm pretty well back to the same HR when I entered the gym. At that point I ride my bike back home.

It works well enough for me, I don't feel any adverse effects.

as long as you do something to gradually bring your body back down to normal levels it's fine, you just don't want to do nothing or get straight in your car, you need to gradually bring your body down, how you do it is fairly optional.

I would suggest that if you don't feel cool enough after 4min@60% then try a step down such as 1min@60%, 2min@40%, and 1min of just walking.
I found that to be a nice cool down when I was doing HIIT

On a related topic, besides stretching before and after lifting, the best way to avoid soreness is to stretch again about 2 hours later. You'll be amazed at the difference in your soreness level. (high potassium also prevents muscle cramps. try bananas.)

Whatever you do don't just stop. What you're doing is just fine.

Stopping immediately after strenuous exercise with no gradual decrease can cause dangerously low blood pressure even in healthy people. Not good.


:spaz: