Cool Down After a Game

What does your team do to cool down after a game? ie. sprints, stretches, etc. If so, what type and for how long?

Is there anything to the thought of allowing pitchers to run to help the body remove a build-up of Lactic Acid in the throwing arm after pitching that night?

 

The Ragsdale pitchers usually run. Other than that the coach does not do anything else (not saying they should. How much cool down do they need?). They meet, clean the field if it's a home game, and go home. I like the fact that the pitchers run afterward.

 

Post Game "maintenance"

usually the starting pitcher or a reliever that threw 50 or 60+ innings gets a pretty good jog, maybe 30 minutes or so to relieve the lactic acid and then if he wants he can ice. other than that, position players don't do anything, just field duties and go eat some unhealthy fast food

 

Lots of work for one night

WOW...they need to jog straight to the hospital. Welcome to the board Friday.

 

Think of lactid acid as waste that was produced by extensive exercise. By having a cool down period (light jog or stationary bike for ten minutes) will stimulate the blood to help flush the waste out. Taking a hot shower (as hot as you can stand) after the workout will also help promote flushing

 

GREAT!

question Tom! For 15 years (learned from my mentor a HS coach for 20 with a state championship and a UNC ballpayer) I had my boys win or lose run 10 sprints actually jogs on the dugout side of the OF where we were playing using the foul line for starting point and me on the other end! It gave them but myself even moreso an opportunity to think and judge what I would say during post game comments! Obviously beginning starting out positive highlighting the Highs and following with lows and reminding all to help out in prepping picking up field maintenannce HOWEVER at the Prov I had a couple parents complain about this ....GO FIGURE poor spoiled **** kids from rotten parents.... Then the "criminial" AD calls me in the office to say that even "he" wouldn t "run" for my "ass" after a ballgame! NUFF SAID????

 

Yeah Bill, it always made me laugh when a parent would complain that a coach made his team jog after a game. (notice i said jog) although it is probably neded for just the pitchers that threw that night (50+ pitches), it is a team thing to make everyone jog. It certainly wasn't a punishment thing.

 

It has had always been stressed taught to me it encouraged team unity and an opportunity for the kids to reflect if not clear their heads immediately of what had just went down win or lose... It definitely allows the coach himself to do so and calculate the words and approach he wanted to use to again"unify" the team and reflect on the big picture of why WE either won or lose never any fingerpointing accusations but def shout outs and kudos who played bigs riles but remeinding of ALL the kids and their role that led to the end result! Several years back keepin the book at a Vance football game I was appaulled at the four letter expletives thrown all over kids after a loss I think a similar situatioin happened at Myers Park football that is BUT lets get one thing straight and THAT is it is goin on all over the place right underneath all of our noses...great examplpe....great job coaches.....be sure you teach allow condone your own kids to use do the same when you bring them up as YOUR children! Pathetic really!
PS Of courses this is a sweeping genrealization ther are FINE and QUALITY coaches doing the right things ALL the time!

 

as far as running....

I have a little different philosophy when it comes to the "running after a start" for pitchers. I have always had my pitchers run the day after thier start. And here are my thoughts and reasoning why I prefer the day after over running the same night of the start.

We all know lactic acid build up is what will cause much of the soreness in a muscle or muscle group due to hard work of that muscle or group. This build up is occurring throughout the game. I feel like by running the same night, you don't actually flush the muscle(arm, legs, etc) because the player is allready "hot" or in the moment of activity. I feel like you only "prolong" or "extend" the current activity or blood flow that has been achieved during the game. So even by running after the game, same night, the lactic acid will still build up, it will just start to build up 20-30 minutes later by running same night.

For me, in a perfect world, the day after a start, they throw about 2-3 minutes of light toss. This forces blood flow specifically to the arm, and then they do thier run (the type of running is variable) to continue to force blood flow and to move the lactic acid and hopefully flush it. Two days after thier start they long toss.

I guess both ways(running same night versus the next day) can serve a purpose. This is just how I like to do it.

 

JT- To be honest, there is some controversy in the scientific world what role lactic acid plays in the body...and to what role it plays in muscle soreness.

However, since lactic acid is produced by a lessening of oxygen in the bloodstream, a cooling down period (consisting of a light jog or stationary bike. ) will increase oxygen to the blood resulting in the aiding of the flush. One waits for the heart rate to return to normal, then proceed to light workout to promote oxygen in the blood stream. They continue the following day a light workout to flush any remaining lactic acid out of their system.

Here are some articles that you may find informative.

Article by Dr George Brooks

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/16/h...gin&adxnnlx=1209308779-Pc6Uec2uzFHlatL/g7k20Q

The notion that lactic acid was bad took hold more than a century ago, said George A. Brooks, a professor in the department of integrative biology at the University of California, Berkeley. It stuck because it seemed to make so much sense.

"It's one of the classic mistakes in the history of science," Dr. Brooks said.

also

Dr Gabe Mirken- Study for PT training of Army cadets


Your muscles should feel sore on some days after you exercise. If you go out and jog the same two miles at the same pace, day after day, you will never become faster, stronger or have greater endurance. If you stop lifting weights when your muscles start to burn, you won't feel sore on the next day and you will not become stronger. All improvement in any muscle function comes from stressing and recovering. On one day, you go out and exercise hard enough to make your muscles burn during exercise. The burning is a sign that you are damaging your muscles. On the next day, your muscles feel sore because they are damaged and need time to recover. Scientist call this DOMS, delayed onset muscle soreness.
It takes at least eight hours to feel this type of soreness. You finish a workout and feel great; then you get up the next morning and your exercised muscles feel sore. We used to think that next-day muscle soreness is caused by a buildup of lactic acid in muscles, but now we know that lactic acid has nothing to do it. Next-day muscle soreness is caused by damage to the muscle fibers themselves.