samcallan
TrackCoach wrote:
It is interesting to note that some of the greatest runners in history never iced. I never iced as a runner, but I did so several times after a football game and it does help with soreness. I didn't read the report, but it seems to me that icing is perhaps helpful for your legs immediately after a hard workout to recover quicker. I am speaking in terms of how it makes you feel, but I don't think it has any long term therapeutic or performance benefits. I made ice baths available but never mandatory during mu coaching days. I've had some good athletes who did it fairly regularly, but 2 of the best athletes I ever coached never did. I know for a fact that a proper massage prior to a race helps.
I was taught that there needs to be a discernible reason for why something "works". What is the mechanism that makes massage effective? Assuming this holds up under replication.
The CWI is interesting with the best advice I have seen is using it at certain times during a training cycle such as during a competitive season. The inflammation from training has ergogenic effects that CWI seem to impair.
As with any study one can find issues with it. The first thing is that I had never thought of looking at stride height and angle changes as something indicative of recovery. Alas, I don't read as much in this area as I once did either.
Also, while the differences may be statistically significant, are they physiologically significant? That is do the differences mean anything in real life performance.
I am a big fan of massage. I find them enjoyable for the most part. Cannot say the say for CWI! But the usual claims are suspect especially the ones about "flushing toxins" and "removing lactic acid". (If you do nothing the lactate will return to normal levels in a few hours so does shortening that by half mean anything for most who do not train 2x a day)?
Let's see if someone can replicate the findings. It is pretty amazing how often the results cannot be replicated.