Cool Down?

Good Afternoon, I would like to offer some insight to the issue that my athletes do not warm down, or cool down after a training session. I would first like to state I take my coaching profession very seriously, and I have based my ever evolving coaching philosophy on research, asking many educated professionals many questions, analyzing both sides of everything, and experimentation. I also train 8 & Unders (favorite part of my day), age group level, as well as senior national/olympic trial qualifiers. I obviously train these very different levels from different perspectives. Please take a look at the following article which references the research as well as beliefs of a few specialists in properly related fields. I did not base my thought process from this article, but did track down similar professional specialists to ask similar questions about my research to form my evolving philosophy. The point I was making to Allison, and the topic posed to the group is basically the following excerpt from the article: The idea of the cool-down seems to have originated with a popular theory — now known to be wrong — that muscles become sore after exercise because they accumulate lactic acid. In fact, lactic acid is a fuel. It’s good to generate lactic acid, it’s a normal part of exercise, and it has nothing to do with muscle soreness. But the lactic acid theory led to the notion that by slowly reducing the intensity of your workout you can give lactic acid a chance to dissipate. Yet, Dr. Foster said, even though scientists know the lactic acid theory is wrong, it remains entrenched in the public’s mind. “It’s an idea we can’t get rid of,” he said. In fact, Dr. Tanaka said, one study of cyclists concluded that because lactic acid is good, it is better not to cool down after intense exercise. Lactic acid was turned back into glycogen, a muscle fuel, when cyclists simply stopped. When they cooled down, it was wasted, used up to fuel their muscles. As far as muscle soreness goes, cooling down doesn’t do anything to alleviate it, Dr. Tanaka said. And there is no physiological reason why it should. I would like to offer the workout we did this AM with my Age Group Program. 4:30 AM Start 90 seconds jump rope/30 seconds rest for 6 rounds getting faster each round (no stretching just got right to it) 5x200 FR drill or swim or combo on :20 rest + 1 of the 50's must be FR kick + kick must get faster each 200 5x200 CHOICE on :20 rest + zoomers + kick + 1 of the 50's must be FR swim + swim must get faster each 200 5x200 FR/BK/or BR swim on :20 rest with snorkel + 1 of the 50's must be fast swim + must get faster by 200 5x200 CHOICE on :20 rest + zoomers + swim + 1 of the 50's must be kick + kick must get faster each 200 8x25 choice swim + paddles on :10 rest + strong + power + low stroke count I did not mention the words warm up, or warm down in my workout, or in my directions to my athletes. We did bring the heart rate down during the last set of 25's. I totallly disagree with mindless, and/or non focused warm ups as well as sloppy meaningless cool downs. I rarely if at all even use these terms with my athletes. If I were training a group of Senior swimmers at the National level or higher and we did a session like the following I would end my workout with the 300's without mentioning a warm up or cool down: 10x150 choice on :15 rest odd = 100 favorite drill/50 best form even = 100 up tempo kick/50 best form swim + up tempo kick 2x5x100 set 1 - FR set 2 - Prime on 1:45 @ Checking Speed (PB 100 Time + :15) 3x3x50 set 1 - FR set 2 - Prime set 3 - IM transition swim on :50 descending to race speed 7x200 on 7:00 from a dive 1 = PB 200 Time + :24/2 = + :20/3 = + :16/4 = + :12/5 = + :8/6 Broken :5 @ 50 + :4/7 = :10 @ 50 + faster than PB Time 7x300 FR swim on 4:00 Breathing 3-5-7 by 100 or by 50 twice A note about warm ups I would like to share is when I viewed the Postal Service cycle team set a team trial record during the TDF I had to know what they did for warm up, and after research I found it was a 45 minute tempo ride on the stationary machine, then the actual time trial (before the time trial), then a period of refueling, then the race. I asked many questions, and concluded that if I want my athletes to truly race at levels they have never been before I need to provide them with a significant amount prior to the races as well as make sure that we are swimming fast with the significant prior. I hope this helps! Train Fast this week!! Allison - I will still allow you to do a 50 warmdown after your workouts :angel:

Good Afternoon, I would like to offer some insight to the issue that my athletes do not warm down, or cool down after a training session. I would first like to state I take my coaching profession very seriously, and I have based my ever evolving coaching philosophy on research, asking many educated professionals many questions, analyzing both sides of everything, and experimentation. I also train 8 & Unders (favorite part of my day), age group level, as well as senior national/olympic trial qualifiers. I obviously train these very different levels from different perspectives. Please take a look at the following article which references the research as well as beliefs of a few specialists in properly related fields. I did not base my thought process from this article, but did track down similar professional specialists to ask similar questions about my research to form my evolving philosophy. The point I was making to Allison, and the topic posed to the group is basically the following excerpt from the article: The idea of the cool-down seems to have originated with a popular theory — now known to be wrong — that muscles become sore after exercise because they accumulate lactic acid. In fact, lactic acid is a fuel. It’s good to generate lactic acid, it’s a normal part of exercise, and it has nothing to do with muscle soreness. But the lactic acid theory led to the notion that by slowly reducing the intensity of your workout you can give lactic acid a chance to dissipate. Yet, Dr. Foster said, even though scientists know the lactic acid theory is wrong, it remains entrenched in the public’s mind. “It’s an idea we can’t get rid of,” he said. In fact, Dr. Tanaka said, one study of cyclists concluded that because lactic acid is good, it is better not to cool down after intense exercise. Lactic acid was turned back into glycogen, a muscle fuel, when cyclists simply stopped. When they cooled down, it was wasted, used up to fuel their muscles. As far as muscle soreness goes, cooling down doesn’t do anything to alleviate it, Dr. Tanaka said. And there is no physiological reason why it should. I would like to offer the workout we did this AM with my Age Group Program. 4:30 AM Start 90 seconds jump rope/30 seconds rest for 6 rounds getting faster each round (no stretching just got right to it) 5x200 FR drill or swim or combo on :20 rest + 1 of the 50's must be FR kick + kick must get faster each 200 5x200 CHOICE on :20 rest + zoomers + kick + 1 of the 50's must be FR swim + swim must get faster each 200 5x200 FR/BK/or BR swim on :20 rest with snorkel + 1 of the 50's must be fast swim + must get faster by 200 5x200 CHOICE on :20 rest + zoomers + swim + 1 of the 50's must be kick + kick must get faster each 200 8x25 choice swim + paddles on :10 rest + strong + power + low stroke count I did not mention the words warm up, or warm down in my workout, or in my directions to my athletes. We did bring the heart rate down during the last set of 25's. I totallly disagree with mindless, and/or non focused warm ups as well as sloppy meaningless cool downs. I rarely if at all even use these terms with my athletes. If I were training a group of Senior swimmers at the National level or higher and we did a session like the following I would end my workout with the 300's without mentioning a warm up or cool down: 10x150 choice on :15 rest odd = 100 favorite drill/50 best form even = 100 up tempo kick/50 best form swim + up tempo kick 2x5x100 set 1 - FR set 2 - Prime on 1:45 @ Checking Speed (PB 100 Time + :15) 3x3x50 set 1 - FR set 2 - Prime set 3 - IM transition swim on :50 descending to race speed 7x200 on 7:00 from a dive 1 = PB 200 Time + :24/2 = + :20/3 = + :16/4 = + :12/5 = + :8/6 Broken :5 @ 50 + :4/7 = :10 @ 50 + faster than PB Time 7x300 FR swim on 4:00 Breathing 3-5-7 by 100 or by 50 twice A note about warm ups I would like to share is when I viewed the Postal Service cycle team set a team trial record during the TDF I had to know what they did for warm up, and after research I found it was a 45 minute tempo ride on the stationary machine, then the actual time trial (before the time trial), then a period of refueling, then the race. I asked many questions, and concluded that if I want my athletes to truly race at levels they have never been before I need to provide them with a significant amount prior to the races as well as make sure that we are swimming fast with the significant prior. I hope this helps! Train Fast this week!! Allison - I will still allow you to do a 50 warmdown after your workouts :angel: