Why is cooling down so important after exercise? Well simply put it is just as important as your warm-up and your workout. In this quick video, I explain and use an analogy of a “Story Book”. In a nutshell, when we cool down after exercise we help our body return to its pre-exercise state. This helps to reduce the heart rate back to a resting heart rate. We also prevent what we refer to as blood pooling this is when blood gathers in our legs if we have been working out at an intense level and fail to cool down! the sudden stopping means the blood builds up, and pools in our lower limbs, but by doing a cool down you are able to continue the blood flow without the pooling. Included in a cool-down should always be your stretches, we need to perform these as they help realign our body and prevent any injuries in the muscles. So never skip your cool-down and always make sure you feel you are back to your pre-exercising state.