Coaching and Care of Athletes

WARMING UP AND COOLING DOWN It is by no means unusual, although not so usual as in former years, to see an inexperienced, or insufficiently trained, athlete at the conclusion of a gruelling distance race either collapse alto– gether on passing the winning-post or stand with hands on knees, body bent, and shoulders heaving, as he strives for breath and to overcome the nausea with which he is afflicted. Such a man would far more readily master the poisons which are in his system by trotting on for a further 440 yds. or even a furlong. The main point of the cooling-down process is analogous to the limbering-up process. One limbers up to adjust the heart-rate, the depth of intertidal breathing, and also to warm up the muscles to a degree of ready responsiveness. Similarly, one must cool down after exercise, not because one wants the muscles again to become viscid, but rather for the purpose of allowing the heart-rate to drop to a normal level and for the depth of the intertidal breathing to decrease. Even more particularly, one tapers off the exercise involved in the contest as a means of removing the waste products of exhaustion (and thereby the poisons in the system) from the muscles by con– tinuing more gently the exercise which has created those poisons. Further elimination will be facilitated by the bath which is taken after competition, and also by massage given by a trained masseur. The athlete who limbers up properly will be sure of doing the maximum performance of which he is mentally and physically capable. In the same way, the athlete who cools down carefully will save himself much discomfort, not only from present nausea, but also from future stiffness and muscle soreness.