Cool Down?

My coach today told me that cooling down at the end of practice was not good for the body. He said it could rip muscles that were just worked. I have always been taught that the cool down was important, especially after working hard and getting the heart rate up. Keep in mind that this is an USA-S practice and those I'm swimming with are teenagers. I'm curious what others think? This sounds like a coach who knows nothing about the principles of exercise. When you train hard, blood flows primarily to working muscles and not as much to brain and organs. By gradually decreasing, you redistribute blood flow back to other parts of the body to go back to "normal." This is WISE. If you go from high intensity to no movement, blood pools in the extremities, leaving them filled with exercise byproducts and restricting blood flow to other areas, which in extreme cases (when there is insufficient blood flow to the brain), you can pass out. NOT WISE.

My coach today told me that cooling down at the end of practice was not good for the body. He said it could rip muscles that were just worked. I have always been taught that the cool down was important, especially after working hard and getting the heart rate up. Keep in mind that this is an USA-S practice and those I'm swimming with are teenagers. I'm curious what others think? This sounds like a coach who knows nothing about the principles of exercise. When you train hard, blood flows primarily to working muscles and not as much to brain and organs. By gradually decreasing, you redistribute blood flow back to other parts of the body to go back to "normal." This is WISE. If you go from high intensity to no movement, blood pools in the extremities, leaving them filled with exercise byproducts and restricting blood flow to other areas, which in extreme cases (when there is insufficient blood flow to the brain), you can pass out. NOT WISE.