The lactic acid myth, massage and other contradictions

I never get a massage post-exercise - and yes, I have tried it. Like "warming up" by stretching it just didn't seem to make much sense (instead I warm up by gradually increasing my exercise intensity from a low level). Many others report - or at least hold - a different view. And the article quoted below may help explain at least why some myths persist and why sometimes we do things that we don't actually understand...

So does massage reduce the lactic acid build up? No. But then again why is lactic acid painted as a 'bad guy'? It probably isn't.

Phys Ed: Does Massage Help After Exercise? - Well Blog - NYTimes.com

Lactic acid is widely believed by many of us outside academia to cause muscle fatigue and soreness after exercise. Physiologists are more skeptical. Recent studies have found few negative effects from lactic acid and, in fact, have shown that it provides fuel for tired muscles. But the studies are not definitive, so “it’s still theoretically possible” that lactic acid has some impact on fatigue

Phys Ed: Does Massage Help After Exercise? - Well Blog - NYTimes.com

As a “direct result” of the lessened blood flow to their muscles, Mr. Tschakovsky says, the volunteers being massaged wound up with far less lactic acid removal than the groups who recovered passively or actively. Massage “actually impairs removal of lactic acid from exercised muscle,” Mr. Tschakovsky and his colleagues wrote in their published study.

Phys Ed: Does Massage Help After Exercise? - Well Blog - NYTimes.com

“This experiment had a specific aim, to see whether massage improved blood flow and lactic-acid removal in an exercised muscle. It did not. That does not mean massage doesn’t have other beneficial effects. We just don’t necessarily know what they are yet.”

Stretching, massage and other time wasters

OK, I'm being a bit difficult here but there's actually little to be said for stretching and massage, at least in the context of fit, well adjusted bodies playing sport. Disclaimer: I'm not a doctor of anything, medical or otherwise, but I ride and I have an opinion based on both practice and research. Let's start with stretching.

Unless you have a lack of flexibility, relative to the range of motion required, what are you trying to achieve by stretching? A warm-up? Why not just ride easily and gradually bring yourself up to speed? In this way you warm up exactly the muscles you need to engage in the activity. Why indeed would you stretch cold muscles and tendons, and thus risk injury? Or perhaps you want to cool down. It seems odd that an activity that is used to 'warm-up' is also used to cool down. In fact why not just ride slower and gradually bring yourself to a cooler state?

If you do have a lack of flexibility then sure, work on what the problem may be with targeted stretches. get advice from a physio on exactly what to do and help to avoid injury.

Which brings me to massage. OK, the pros do it so it must be good. Well maybe it is but where's the evidence? Go on, take a look at the literature. It certainly doesn't seem to hurt, but at best it simply feels good and may act to help convince you that it is good; and thus convinced you may ride better next time. So it's in the mind, not the body. And plenty of riders do swear that they feel better after a massage, so it works for them. But physiologically the effects are so minimal as to be... non-existent. Or not measurable. When you think about it, why would a trained athlete not have an efficient circulatory system? Why would toxins and other waste-products from exercise not be pumped away swiftly from major working muscles like those in the legs? Why would waste linger longer in an athlete, somehow pooling in key areas of great vascular development? Now a non-athlete with fluid retention or some other circulatory problem I could understand, but a highly-trained sports person? I'm open to the evidence, I just haven't seen any that convinces.