Cooling Down. Why 300m so long?! - Gen's Mind..

The higher the intensity/volume of the training, the more important is the cool down. Last night we did speed work and cooldown is thus 300.. in fact, it is very little already due to time constraint. I didn't want to implement the cooldown at the beginning to be very strict but I realized its a wrong doing on my part as a coach for that. Reason is below, I took this article from online (hopefully no copyright).. It kind of summarize the importance of cooling down.

FYI, National team swimmer's cooldown is minimum of 1km. Warmup is a standard 1 to 2km depending on if its speed work day or not.:)

--------------------------

IMPORTANCE OF COOLING DOWN
From: http://www.24hrfitness.co.uk/fitness%20tips/cooling-down-after-exercise.html

Cooling down after exercise is just as important in reducing the risk of injury as the warming up process before exercise. Cooling down means gradually slowing down the level of activity.

The major purpose of warming up is to prepare the body and mind for rigorous activity, whereas that of cooling down is to assist in recovery and to bring the body back to a pre-exercise or pre-workout state.

Returning back to the normal state

Cooling down also helps the heart rate and breathing to return back to normal. Cooling down after exercise helps prevent dizziness and needless pain. During a rigorous workout, the body experiences a number of stressful processes.

Muscle fibers, tendons and ligaments tend to undergo a lot of strain, and waste products build up inside the body. Cooling down after exercise, if performed correctly, will help the body flush the toxins and release the strains.

Post Exercise Muscle Soreness, also referred to as Delayed-Onset Muscle Soreness (DOMS), is one of the areas where cooling down after exercise is most useful. This is the soreness that is generally faced the day after a strenuous workout.

When exercise is suddenly stopped blood, and waste products like lactic acid (a chemical effect of muscular fatigue), stay in the muscles, which can cause swelling and pain. This process is frequently referred to as 'blood pooling'.

Cooling down after exercise helps in returning the blood to the heart in adequate quantities to relieve the muscles off lactic acid. The circulating blood also carries with it the oxygen and nutrients required by the muscles, tendons and ligaments for repair and growth.


Three elements for cooling down

An effective process for cooling down needs to include three major parts to guarantee a complete restoration of the circulation system. These are gentle exercise, stretching and re-fuel. All of these three elements are equally important and none of them should be ignored or treated as unnecessary.

They work jointly to repair and replenish the body after exercise. Dizziness, nausea and a 'worn out' feeling are usual symptoms of an inappropriate cool down process. For an effective cool-down, carry out a low intensity exercise for a minimum of 5 to 10 minutes and follow this with a stretching routine.

Also you can either carry on with the current exercise while gradually slowing its intensity, or jog or walk briskly for a few minutes, making sure that these activities are lesser in intensity as compared to the exercise previously performed.

During the cooling down process, after the heart rate has been lowered, stretch all major muscles, particularly the ones that have just been worked on. Every stretch ought to last for at least eight seconds, with longer stretches and repeats for those muscles that feel particularly sore.

The last part of the cooling down after exercise process involves the re-fuel, just as proper nutrition is needed before exercise to provide the fuel needed for activity, the body requires nourishment for the after exercise process of building muscles so water, minerals and carbohydrates are all needed.


----------------------

Guys guys guys.. i know.. what about PROTEIN?!?!?! As a matter of fact, you don't need protein powder (besides the fact that processed stuffs are really hard to absorb....).. and the fact that protein powder aids in recovery is mainly because of the CARBS in it! Those who tried post workout drinks before, can you remember HOW SWEET IT IS?! I swear to god it taste sweeter than a tub of Vanilla ice cream lor.

Protein Intake recommendation - Extract from my fitness instructor book, confirmed by my inspiring Personal Trainer Shirley. She was national gymnast, more than 3 pages of fitness qualifications and is singapore sports council and national sports team's consultant. So you can't get this wrong and take back that ego and stop tinking you need That much of protein... :D



Its very simple to calculate.
If I am 72kg now, I am not doing any weights or strength training. So I should be taking:
Protein that amounts in the range of 72 x 1.2g to 72 x 1.4g, which is only 86.4g ~ 100.8 grams of protein a day. The extra will either be stored as fats or giving your kidney a hard work to do and then passed out as amino acid. (No wonder I haven't get my abs).. :p Go and weigh the chicken chop you ate last night, you probably exceeded what you need in total for 3 to 5 meals of protein. :P

Cheers
KK