

Is the Exercise Cool-Down Really Necessary?  - mhb
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/15/health/nutrition/15best.html?_r=1&hpw

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imp
I swam for a D-III school and our coach insisted on a long cool down after
every swim meet. It was just ingrained in me that if I didn't do a cool down
that I would have built up lactic acid or something that would make me stiff
and unable to practice well the next day.

Then one year we went to watch a meet between Texas and Michigan, two top D-I
teams that have Olympic champions. At the end of the meet, both teams just
packed up and went home, and not a single person did a cool down. I was
shocked! It made me realize that a cool down probably wasn't necessary, but I
was still required to do it anyways. Our coach didn't really reply to me when
I asked him about it.

One thing that those teams did was stretch A LOT before the meet. I think they
did something like a full 40 minutes of stretching before they even got in the
pool.

~~~
gaius
I've never seen the point of stretching cold muscles. I don't even warm up
before a Marathon. The first mile will be easy anyway as the pack thins out,
why waste energy warming up?

As for cool down, the key is this: after a long run, your muscles will be
weak. If you cross the finish line and just flop down, that's when you're
likely to get hurt, there is not enough tension to protect your joints. A warm
down forces you to retain your posture while you recover a bit. That is the
mechanism for injury prevention, not flushing lactic acid or whatever.

~~~
ssharp
A lot of young people don't bother stretching at all. However, almost anyone
who is middle-aged and is capable of doing the same workouts they did when
they were young attribute their ability to work to a committed stretch
program. Flexibility is one thing I've really been working on as I near the
ripe age of 30.

~~~
anamax
> is capable of doing the same workouts they did when they were young
> attribute their ability to work to a committed stretch program.

Said folks may be correct, but that just tells us that stretching is valuable.
It doesn't imply that warm up and/or cool down is useful, even if many of
those folks do their stretching as part of warm up/cool down.

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yardie
If you aren't doing anything extremely strenuous, then no it probably isn't
necessary. But I've done a 100m and 200m sprint and me slamming the breaks at
the end generally results in either me feeling faint or simply passing out.

I've never really paid attention to why a cool down was necesary, nor did any
of my coaches require it. I just did it because after a good run your sweat
glands are wide open and it feels uncomfortable to stand still in the humid,
Florida sun.

~~~
justlearning
Accoding to
[http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/02/health/02well.html?_r=2...](http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/02/health/02well.html?_r=2&ref=health)
, cooling(as in taking it slow) in marathons helps with the fainting/passing
out.

Wasn't there this story of a 40+ european guy winning grueling competitions
based on sheer stamina than performance.It was a story on Nytimes, couldn't
find it.

~~~
DuncanIdaho
is this it?

[http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/05/sports/playmagazine/05robi...](http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/05/sports/playmagazine/05robicpm.html?pagewanted=all)

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edw519
I loved this sentence:

 _”Everyone thinks it’s an established fact," he added, "so they don’t study
it."_

I wonder how many other places we encounter that this would apply to.

~~~
mhb
It's well-established that this wouldn't apply to those places.

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Confusion
And the answer (from the article and what I've read elsewhere): no, not as far
as any study has ever been able to determine.

~~~
Retric
_there is only one agreed-on fact about the possible risk of suddenly stopping
intense exercise. When you exercise hard, the blood vessels in your legs are
expanded to send more blood to your legs and feet. And your heart is pumping
fast. If you suddenly stop, your heart slows down, your blood is pooled in
your legs and feet, and you can feel dizzy, even pass out._

~~~
pbhjpbhj
Which is why you sit down or bend over, no?

Marathon runners do a pretty intense workout .. I've never seen one of them do
a warm-down at the end.

Similarly a study a couple of years ago by the Australian military (someone
Google that for me!) said that warm-ups didn't alter the rates of injury
during physical activity.

~~~
Retric
Marathon runners don't do an intense workout. It's an endurance sport and peak
output is nowhere near what a sprinter does.

~~~
xiaoma
> _Marathon runners don't do an intense workout. It's an endurance sport and
> peak output is nowhere near what a sprinter does._

It's easy to say that from the couch.

Odds are overwhelming that both you, and 99% of the people commenting on this
site are incapable of running a mile in under 5 minutes or even a single lap
around a 400m track in 75 seconds. Top marathon runners _average_ a higher
speed than that for over 2 hours. Winners occasionally have a sub 4 minute
mile _within_ the race.

~~~
Retric
A mile is still an endurance sport. There is a reason the world record for
200m is slower than twice 100m even though they both start from a dead stop
and it takes several seconds to hit top speed.

Edit: I dealt with limited lung capacity for a while, it can be vary obvious
once you start needing a lot of oxygen really quickly. You can run fast from a
dead stop, but distance and recovery time can become insane.

~~~
xiaoma
Actually the 100m and 200m records are about the same speed. It's 9.58 for the
100m and 19.19 for the 200m. And before this August when Bolt shattered his
previous 100m record, the 200m record was significantly faster than the 100m.

But in any case, both miles and marathons are incredibly intense workouts. In
fact, from a physiological standpoint, middle distances are more intense than
sprints. Less than 400m isn't even enough to push someone to their lactate
threshold. Short sprints are run on the fuel already in the muscles.
Obviously, it still takes intense training (and the right genes) to sprint
well, though.

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peterwwillis
<http://www.halhigdon.com/15Ktraining/Stretch.htm>
<http://www.indoorclimbing.com/stretching.html>

stretch beforehand to prevent injury and after to remove lactic acid and
soreness. it's been stressed to me on several occasions that stretching post-
exercise is critical, and at our gym we do 10min of yoga after a 1-1.5hr
cardio session. i'm still getting used to some of the exercises and my calves
need constant stretching or they get tight and painful.

~~~
gaius
But if lactic acid isn't responsible for soreness...?

