Is the Exercise Cool-Down Really Necessary?
Full article here:
www.nytimes.com/.../15best.html
Excerpt:
The idea of the cool-down seems to have originated with a popular theory — now known to be wrong — that muscles become sore after exercise because they accumulate lactic acid. In fact, lactic acid is a fuel. It’s good to generate lactic acid, it’s a normal part of exercise, and it has nothing to do with muscle soreness. But the lactic acid theory led to the notion that by slowly reducing the intensity of your workout you can give lactic acid a chance to dissipate...
For me it depends on how hard the work out has been. Or at least the last set. Today's last set was 12x50 on :50 so it was fairly easy. I could have gotten out then and been fine but I decided to get in a bit more yardage and do 150 cool-down. But if I'm doing something faster and working harder, I definitely need a cool-down.
And I think the older you get, the more the body needs the cool-down.
For me it depends on how hard the work out has been. Or at least the last set. Today's last set was 12x50 on :50 so it was fairly easy. I could have gotten out then and been fine but I decided to get in a bit more yardage and do 150 cool-down. But if I'm doing something faster and working harder, I definitely need a cool-down.
And I think the older you get, the more the body needs the cool-down.
