Like stretching, cooling down after a run has long been accepted as a best practice. Isn't it a good idea to gradually reduce your heart rate with 5-10 minutes of light jogging? Doesn't a cooldown help reduce post-exercise muscle soreness? Doesn't a gradual shift from running to non-exercise help speed recovery? Isn't it bad for your heart to just stop running with no gradual transition to non-exercise?
The much touted physical benefits of a cooldown may be just another myth. Neither holding up under the harsh light of scientific scrutiny.
As reported in the recent New York Times article Do We Have to Cool Down After Exercise? by Gretchen Reynolds, several recent studies have concluded that a post-exercise cooldown has little or no effect on reducing muscle soreness or promoting recovery from a workout.
The available data "quite strongly suggest a cool-down does not reduce post-exercise soreness," says Rob Herbert, a senior research fellow at Neuroscience Research Australia. Back in 2007, Dr.Herbert led a study where subjects were asked to walk downhill on a treadmill for 30 minutes. This activity would certainly result in much muscle soreness... and many strange stares. When assessed two days later, the group that performed a cooldown experienced no reduction muscle soreness compared to the control group that did not cool down. That study was conducted six years ago. It sometimes takes a while for news to travel.
Last week's article Dehydration Ain't All That Bad mentioned the actual cause of runners collapsing at the end of a race was the pooling of blood in the lower limbs, after ceasing heavy exercise, combined with the sudden reduction in heart rate. So then, wouldn't a cooldown prevent the collapse? Yes. So would walking for just a few minutes, according to Ross Tucker, a South African physiologist and a founder of the estimable Web site The Science of Sport. "And that's not really a cool-down," as most of us would define the procedure, he says.
If the physical benefits of a cooldown are dubious, does it make any sense to perform a post-run cooldown? Speaking from personal experience, after a tough workout, a cooldown of slow jogging does feel good. It's a pleasant transition from a tough workout to non-exercise. In other words, the benefits may be mostly psychological.
None of the research concluded that cooling down had any negative effect. If you enjoy a post-run cooldown, there's no harm in continuing your practice. But if you don't cool down post-run, don't sweat it!
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