Do We Have to Cool Down After Exercise?

锻炼后需要放松吗?

　　Do you often, if guiltily, skip cooling down after exercise? A small but soothing body of new research suggests that you aren’t missing out on much.

　　你是否经常在锻炼之后带着内疚的情绪漏掉放松环节?一些虽不多但让人安慰的新研究称：其实你也没错失什么。

　　Most of us were taught in elementary school gym classes that the body requires a formal period of cooling down after a workout or competition. Instructors told us that by slowing to a jog or otherwise lessening the intensity of the workout, followed by stretching or otherwise transitioning out of physical activity, we would prevent muscle soreness, improve limberness and speed physiological recovery. All of this would allow us to perform better physically the next day than if we hadn’t cooled down.

　　我们大多数人在小学体育课上就被告知，锻炼或比赛后，我们的身体需要一段严肃认真的放松时间。体育老师教我们先减缓速度进行慢跑，或用其他方法降低运动强度;然后拉伸，或做些过渡动作。如此我们就能避免肌肉酸痛，增强柔韧性，加快生理恢复。这一切都让我们可以在第二天的锻炼中表现更出色——比起不做放松来讲。

　　But under scientific scrutiny, none of those beliefs stand up well.

　　然而，在科学的审视下，以上没有一条能站得住脚。

　　In a representative study published last year in The Journal of Human Kinetics, a group of 36 active adults undertook a strenuous, one-time program of forward lunges while holding barbells, an exercise almost guaranteed to make untrained people extremely sore the next day. Some of the volunteers warmed up beforehand by pedaling a stationary bicycle at a very gentle pace for 20 minutes. Others didn’t warm up but cooled down after the exercise with the same 20 minutes of easy cycling. The rest just lunged, neither warming up nor cooling down.

　　去年，《人类运动学杂志》(The Journal of Human Kinetics)发表了一项代表性实验：36名体能较佳的成年人进行了一次高强度的手握杠铃箭步蹲训练。此动作几乎可以肯定地让没训练过的人在第二天肌肉极其酸痛。其中一些志愿者以慢骑健身自行车20分钟的方法热身;还有一些则不热身，但之后会进行20分钟慢骑自行车的放松运动。其他志愿者则只做箭步蹲，不热身也不放松。

　　The next day, all of the volunteers submitted to a pain threshold test, in which their muscles were prodded until they reported discomfort. The volunteers who’d warmed up before exercising had the highest pain threshold, meaning their muscles were relatively pain-free.

　　第二天，所有志愿者都参与了痛阈测试。研究人员刺激他们的肌肉，直到他们表示不舒服为止。训练前热身过的志愿者痛阈最高，意味着他们的肌肉相对来说不大疼痛。

　　Those who’d cooled down, on the other hand, had a much lower pain threshold; their muscles hurt. The cool-down group’s pain threshold was, in fact, the same as among the control group. Cooling down had bought the exercisers nothing in terms of pain relief.

　　另一方面，训练后做了放松练习的志愿者痛阈低得多：他们的肌肉很疼。事实上，他们的痛阈与对照组(不热身也不放松)的一样。在减轻身体酸痛方面，放松并不会给健身人士带来什么好处。

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