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...
Heart rate during stretching should be low (120-140 beats/min or 20-23 beats/10 sec)
120-140 is low? I realize that some people get to much higher HRs at maximum exertion than I do, but surely even most of those sprinty people's HRs drop below 140 by the time they get out of the racing pool and into the warm-down pool. It's getting the HR back down below 90 that takes a little time.
Heart rate during stretching should be low (120-140 beats/min or 20-23 beats/10 sec)
120-140 is low? I realize that some people get to much higher HRs at maximum exertion than I do, but surely even most of those sprinty people's HRs drop below 140 by the time they get out of the racing pool and into the warm-down pool. It's getting the HR back down below 90 that takes a little time.
