I have played in the coldest of temps and NEVER did it effect my ability to run, hit or perform any physical task. The only thing it did was make it harder for the recievers to catch and the rest of us to get traction.
First BigJ12, you need to chill dude. We're just talkin' here, my friend, no need to get wound up.
As to the effect of cold on human performance of
any kind, its pretty hard to argue that there is
no effect. As to your performance "in the coldest of temps"...good for you. But I doubt that it "never" affected your performance in one way or another and I would bet that any excercise physiologist worth his salt would be able to prove conclusively that all athletes are affected by temps, high or low to some degree. Everyone has an
optimal temperature range for any kind of physical activity. Raise or lower that temperature beyond a certain point and there will be some type of degradation in performance.
So if someone can't pull back their bow because of an added couple of pounds of draw weight then they are over bowed and it's THEM who are trying to be macho, having their bows set at such an amount that even the slightestincrease in weight (or decrease in their stength) causes them not to be able to draw their bow!
Whether or not someone is "over bowed" or not is a relative thing, not an absolute as you would paint it.
For example, I may be the type of person that is quite capable of drawing 90 lbs until the temp drops below a certain point...beyond that point, drawing becomes a struggle. If the temps drops even further I may not be able to draw the bow at all. You may substitute any number you wish in place of the 90 lb number that I threw out as an example. For another person the number might be say, 70 lbs. Am I then "over bowed?" Not at all, under a wide range of hunting temperatures...just not all temps. Get it?
But the point is, that under most conditions the person in my example can easily draw the bow and it is the cold (to which some people happen to be particularly susceptable) that causes the failure, the breakdown in performance, but only in those condtions.
Bottom line: Even you have a breakpoint as far as low temps affecting your ability to draw. I'd venture to say that if the temps drop to say, 80 below zero, your ability to draw might be impaired, perhaps even to the point where you simply could not. For others the temp might be 10 below zero or 20 above zero or...well, hopefully you get the idea.
wicchunter:
VC1111 ... you hit the nail on the head
Thanks, guy. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you and all our fellow sportsmen in America, Canada and all over the planet. I hope you all have occasion to draw on a hog buck in 2006 regardless of the temps!