Is the Exercise Cool-Down Really Necessary?

I'm religious about warming UP, but horrible about warming down. I tend to forget to even leave myself enough time for a warm down. Whatever my last set is, many times I'll hop straight out of the pool soon after I touch the wall, still panting. How bad is this for me? Do I need to change my ways? Would a warm down just prevent some soreness? When I do a really hard workout, seems like I'm sore whether I warmdown or not.

To answer my own question (I just read the article), looks like it isn't bad for me at all. The main risk that comes with stopping abruptly comes seems to be related to blood pooling in the legs-- not an issue with swimming.

To answer my own question (I just read the article), looks like it isn't bad for me at all. The main risk that comes with stopping abruptly comes seems to be related to blood pooling in the legs-- not an issue with swimming. Didn't you just say that you are hopping out of the pool right after sprinting? Wouldn't that be the time that you should worry about blood pooling in your legs? :)

This is a really interesting thread... I never considered the possibility that warming down "properly" could be unnecessary; all my various coaches through years of age group and high school swimming stressed its importance to the point that it was pretty much indoctrinated into the exercise routine. I am afraid to cut back on the warm down though (even though I often skimp and only warm down ~200 yds/meters after a workout) - if not for soreness factor or how i'll feel tomorrow, but just for helping to make the transition from workout mode to real life mode.

My :2cents: I am a huge believer in lots of easy swimming after intense work. After a long (for me) aerobic workout, I will swim 100 w/d. In between fast workout swims (say, 50s or 100s with lots of rest), I will swim almost all of the rest time. Even for a set like 6x 50 AFAP on 2:00, I will swim at least 1/2 way down and back after each. After a meet race, regardless of distance, I will swim at least 600 or 10-15 mins. All of this gives me the (false?) sense that I am helping to move the lactic acid, etc out of my system. YMMV. It is not a false sense at all: cool down definitely removes LA. I do exactly like you between hard swims on plenty of rest in practice: move around, including easy swimming. Same thing with w/d after races in meets. I never understood why some people would sit on the wall for the entire time of a long rest period in practices. My understanding is that the article is talking about something different: in terms of muscle soreness, removing LA doesn't do anything. Warming down speeds LA removal, but either way it will be gone by the next day. Since LA in the muscles is not the cause of soreness, leaving it there a little longer doesn't make your muscles more sore. Again, I'm just paraphrasing the article as I understand it. Obviously lots of people love their warmdown, and that's fine. Half of my own warmdown is in the hot shower; if we had a hot tub, I'd probably use that for the entire thing. :)

I do about 300m of relaxed swimming neccessary or not. I just feel better in my own mind. I would think any thing goes in a cool down, drills, even relaxed kicking and sculling (I do mix it up). Those who feel a cool down is not necessary do what ever you please. If a cool down is in fact necessary you will suffer. If not necessary you to will be fine.

So, how much of a cooldown does one need for safety? Will an easy 50 suffice? 200? 10 minutes? Does anyone know, could drill work count as cool down? Seems like it should, yes? This is my understanding, but the information has not recently entered my head, so it is worth double checking. During intense workout, your muscles aide your heart in pumping blood. Your cool down can be anything that continues the same motion at a slower pace while the heart rate decreases to "normal", where it can handle the volume of blood being pumped on its own. Normal would be your heart rate during ez swimming. For runners it would be the heart rate during a walk. How long is a function of individual recovery rate and current heart elevation, so time isn't a good indicator, but heart rate should be. So drills at an easy pace that allowed your heart rate to drop would be a good cool down. There are several drills that don't fit into this (like spin drill) that elevate the heart rate which wouldn't help.

If you suddenly stop, your heart slows down, your blood is pooled in your legs and feet, and you can feel dizzy, even pass out. When I used to ride a lot, that is everyday, at the end of 26-35 miles I didn't cool down, then I would spend a few hours in agony going through panic attacks, room spinning and fainting spells...It wasn't until I got in a spinning class with a trained physiologist that I learned to cool down and stretch. When I began swimming intervals, the same things happened, panic attacks-dizzy spells...so now I do cool downs and it works. I haven't experienced anything like those panic attacks and room spinning spells since. Perhaps its the conditioning, however when I used to ride I was "conditioned" for the sport. So I think it goes beyond myth, but then some people are physical gifted, where they simply never need a cooldown.

Active recovery (swimming warm-down) is helpful for lactate removal. During passive recovery (i.e. sitting on the bench) lactate removal is very slow The warm-down protocols can also be used for workouts after hard swimming sets. A warm-down will help to recover faster before the next workout "Very slow" is quite vague. And there is a difference between "recovery" and soreness. Look at slide #11, which basically shows the effect of active recovery (and note that can include things like active stretching). With warming down, you recover within an hour; without it, LA levels are still slightly elevated even 2 hours later. But I contend that TWENTY-FOUR hours later, there will be absolutely no difference. In terms of LA levels, you are "recovered" either way. Now perhaps longer conditions of acidosis can have deleterious effects on muscles; I don't know. But I don't think it causes "soreness." But this isn't what the authors are talking about: they are concerned with recovering between races. (And I absolutely agree with long & good warmdowns in that situation.)

I would think that, like anything else, the amount of cool down that one needs is individualized. Too bad I can't remember much from my undergrad exercise physiology class to give an educated answer.