Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Cool down, schmool down?

Holy smokes!

My good buddy, old Marist alum (from the 1970s!) Marty McGowan sent along the following New York Times article that basically says COOLING DOWN IS A WASTE OF TIME.

How can this be?

This flies in the face of everything I have thought and believed about cooling down!

Of course, being an avid "non-stretcher" it does make sense to me personally. But I'm still not certain it is sound advice.

However, one part of the article was particularly disturbing. It said that after hard exercise, when your muscles produce lactic acid, that lactic acid is then turned into glycogen for your muscles. This is good, right? However, IF YOU COOL DOWN, the beneficial process is LOST because that energy is needed for your cool down. Crazy? You bet!

What do you all think of this? Should we stop cooling down? I think not, but it is certainly food for thought.

My goodness.

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