Cycling is a wonderful way of getting the blood pumping, exercising, and losing weight. And, the best part about it is the fact that there are so many other benefits included as well. You get to be outdoors, you can travel in style, and you get to go off-road and experience many different surroundings. Long bike rides can be the perfect way to spend beautiful summer days, and they can change your life for the better.
If you’re going to get the most out of exercise and bike riding then you need to embrace it the correct way, and look at techniques that will help you to approach this properly. That means you need to look at what you can do to warm up efficiently, but you also need to be sure you are cooling down correctly afterward in order to look after your body and ensure you are making the right decision to get the best results from this.
There’s a lot of thought that goes into staying hydrated whilst pushing those pedals, but sometimes ensuring you have something to drink out of when on your journey won’t help your recovery when you’re off the saddle. Let’s take a look at some of the ways to ensure your down time is pain free.
Why You Need to Cool Down
Now, there are a lot of things you should consider with this, and you need to work out the best ways of being able to make the most of the cycling experience. There are a couple of key reasons why you need to cool down after the fact. The first one is that you need to help your muscles and body get back to some degree of normalcy, as well as removing waste products from the muscle, and helping the blood to circulate more effectively. It’s also important for allowing you to mentally calm down after a long workout, which can often be just as important.
Easy Pedalling
One of the best ways of being able to cool down and get your body ready for normality after your workout is to do 4 or 5 minutes of easy pedalling after your ride. This is really important because you need to keep your body moving and active, but not in a strenuous sense. If you just stop completely this can cause your muscles to seize up and become sore. In order to avoid this, some easy pedaling can really go a long way toward helping with this, and it’s something you should look to get right as much as possible.
Don’t Stretch Just Yet!
Make sure you think about the right way of being able to take this to the next stage, and help your body recover. Now, one of the biggest mistakes people make with this is that they stretch right away after finishing, but this is not the right approach. The state of your muscular tone and central nervous system can mean that immediate stretching is not the best idea. It might well cause you to feel a little off, as well as making your muscles sore. Instead, try to make sure you wait at least three hours before you actually attempt static stretching. And make sure you have a stretching routine in mind before you start; research the best possible warm-down stretches to help get your body back up to regular working order as much as possible.
Get Your Shower Just Right
You might not think it, but the temperature of your shower can actually play a massive part in the process of getting this right. You have to make sure you do your best to work on improving your approach to cooling down, and a shower can be just what the doctor ordered. However, you also need to think about what you can do to make sure you get the temperature just right. Sometimes you just want to have a nice, hot, comfortable shower, and this is a good way of bringing out all the aches in your body. But, the best way of helping your sore muscles is to go for what is known as a contrast shower. This is where you use blasts of hot and cold water intermittently for 15 seconds all over your body. Repeat this about 10 times for the best possible results.
Long bike rides are good for the body and soul, and there are loads of great benefits to this. You have to make sure you do as much as possible to find the right ways of enjoying a successful bike ride and exercise regime. The more you can do to make the most of this, the better it is going to be in the longrun. This is something you need to keep in mind moving forward. Try to come up with ideas that will help you here, and use these tips to make sure you are cooling down as effectively as possible right now.
