How To Cool Down Post Run In 7 Minutes

What most people do after their run is get in the car, put the heater on, and drive home and promise themselves they’ll do their stretches later.

We can all be guilty of not doing a proper cool down but If you want to ease those sore tired muscles, reduce your chances of injury and make sure you’re fresh for your next run or training session you should do a cool down after your run.

In today’s blog post I’m going to talk you through a quick 7-minute, cool down you can follow along with.

Cool down overview

Before you go into each of these post run stretches, we recommend a 2 minute light jog or walk when you’ve finished your run so you can get your heart rate back down to resting levels and prepare for your cool down.

You’re going to each stretch for 30 seconds. Holding the stretch for any longer has no additional benefit.

When you get into your first stretch, remember to breathe! A lot of people get so focused on the exercise that they forget to breathe. When it comes to your cooldown we want to slow your breathing rate down as this will help to relax you, your muscles, and you’ll feel a deeper stretch.

The standing quad stretch

Firstly, we’re going to stretch out the quads by doing a standing quad stretch.

• Find something to hold onto for balance, if you aren’t back at the car then a tree or fence will do 

• Stand nice and tall and focus on something directly ahead of you. This will help you keep your balance, and your posture nice and upright

• While standing, raise one leg up behind you and grasp your foot and pull it up into our first stretch

What a lot of people do is stand with the stretched leg pointing away from their body. If the leg is out to your side, then you aren’t stretching your quadriceps muscle at all. You should feel this stretch all the way up the front of your leg, in the quadriceps, and into the hip flexors.

Hold this for 30 seconds and then swap legs.

The Pidgeon stretch

Now that we’ve stretched the quads, we’re going to move up to our hip flexors. A lot of runners get tight hip flexors, this can limit your range of motion and reduce the amount of hip extension you can produce when you run, which could slow you down. Also this can alter your running style, which means you won’t be running as efficiently, or as fast.

To loosen off those hip flexors we’re going to do a pigeon stretch. You can do this on the ground, a box or a chair.

We’re going to stretch both sides… 

• Take one leg back, almost like a lunge position and place the other leg in front as close to 90 degrees as you can

• Sit up nice and tall in this exercise and hold it for 30 seconds

You should feel this stretch a bit higher than the quad stretch, so more into the hip flexors.

Seated Hamstring stretch

Next, we’re going to work on your hamstrings by doing a seated hamstring stretch. The hamstrings are responsible for a lot of hip extension and knee flexion when you run, which is key for running faster… yet it is one of the most injured muscles in runners.

If your hamstrings aren’t flexible enough you can overstretch them, pull them or even tear them. By doing this stretch you’ll reduce the chances of this happening. Also, this stretch will help to increase your range of motion, so you can produce more powerful contacts with the ground when you run and ultimately run faster.

• Sit on the floor with one leg stretched out in front and the other bent with your knee out to the side

• Lean towards your foot and bring your hands as far down the leg as you can

You should feel a nice stretch in the hamstring. If you can’t feel it you can always bring your body forward more until you feel the stretch.

After holding this stretch for 30 seconds on one side you should swap to the other leg. 

90/90 glute stretch

The next stretch is going to target the glute muscles. These are one of the most activated and utilised muscles when we run, so it’s important to give them some TLC. 

• Sit with one leg out in front of your hips and one leg behind

• Bend both knees to 90 degrees

• Lean towards your front knee to feel the stretch in your butt and lower back

You should feel a stretch in the butt, lower back, and outside of your front leg.

If you’re glutes are tight when you get into this stretch, you should feel them starting to ease off as you hold each stretch for 30 seconds.

Child’s pose stretch

Now that we’ve stretched the quads, hamstrings, and glutes…  we’re going to stretch your lower back.

When we run our lower backs take a lot of pressure.  As we tire in the latter part of a race or a run session our running posture, form and technique change. We tend to lean forward a bit more which puts extra pressure on the lower back.

The stretch we’re going to do here is called “The Child’s Pose”. 

• Get on all fours, go wider with your knees as you keep your hands forward

• Sit back onto your heels and come into the child pose position

• Relax your head and shoulders, taking out any tension you might be feeling and hold for 30 seconds remembering to breathe

You should feel a really nice stretch in the lower back. If you’re not getting as good a stretch as you’d like you can try lengthening the distance you create with your arms which will really help give you a deeper stretch. 

Prone Gastrocnemius stretch

Now onto our final 2 stretches, which are all about stretching out your calf muscles.

A lot of people forget that there’s two muscles in the calves that need to be stretched. The first is the Gastrocnemius, which sits at the top of the calf, and then almost underneath that is the Soleus Muscle.

To stretch the Gastrocnemius - or Gastroc as most people know it – we’re going to do a  “Prone Gastroc Stretch”.

• Put your hands and feet on the ground while facing down, think of this like a plank

• Straighten your knees and try to push one heel down towards the ground

• Cross the other leg over the top to apply extra pressure to the stretch, hold for 30 seconds and repeat on the other side.

When you’re holding this stretch, remember to keep your head in line with your body to prevent hyperextending the neck during the stretch.

The Soleus stretch

Now onto our final stretch, and a part of the calf that often gets overlooked. When you run your calves take a lot of impact and get very tight.

A long time ago I had shin splints… I could barely walk and I had to take time off from running!

Tight calves played a huge part in making this condition worse. When the Soleus is tight it can rub on the shins and make walking and running more painful, which is exactly what happened to me. Don’t make this mistake!

If you’re feeling tightness at the bottom of your calf then you’re experiencing tight soleus muscles.

• Find something to hold onto

• Put 1 leg forward to stay stable

• Keep the back foot on the floor making sure the heel always stays on the ground during this stretch

• On the back leg you want to get that knee over toe

If you aren’t feeling a good stretch, squat down a bit more keeping your back heel firmly planted on the floor. Hold for 30 seconds and then swap sides.