Is the Exercise Cool-Down Really Necessary?

From the slacker end of the Bell Curve -- Warmup is having the heater on while driving to practice. Cool-down starts immediately upon entering pool.

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'm in your camp. 50m wdown for me is enough, then the rest of the wdown is done chatting, relaxing, shower and hot tub. But between the hard reps I do appreciate ez swims for the reasons you mentioned.

Many of my workouts turn out to be chatting, relaxing, shower and hot tub.

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? :) Well, duh!! I guess I wasn't thinking about that! :blush: Also add the factor of going from water to the harsh reality of gravity. That is probably not good! Point well taken. So, how much of a cooldown does one need for safety? Will an easy 50 suffice? 200? 10 minutes?

Here's a good presentation on lactate clearance and recovery swimming by Genadijus Sokolovas, former Director of Physiology for USA Swimming. The conclusions: Swimming at high velocity yields high amounts of lactate in the muscles. This has negative effects on the ability of the muscles to contract. In order for a swimmer to perform at maximal effort again, lactate must be removed Active recovery (swimming warm-down) is helpful for lactate removal. During passive recovery (i.e. sitting on the bench) lactate removal is very slow Duration of post-race recovery should be 25-30 min for sprinters, 20-25 min for middle distance swimmers, and 15-20 min for distance swimmers Swimming intensity during warm-down should be light for sprinters (about 50-55% of maximum 100 m swimming velocity), light to moderate for middle distance swimmers (55-60% of maximum 100 m swimming velocity), and moderate for distance swimmers (60-65% of maximum 100 m swimming velocity) The post-race recovery protocol should include straight swimming. Warm-down can be substituted with stretching if there is no warm-down pool available. Heart rate during stretching should be low (120-140 beats/min or 20-23 beats/10 sec) 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

Does anyone know, could drill work count as cool down? Seems like it should, yes? :banana:

It has been drilled into me that the cool-down is critical from a cardiovascular perspective. I do it religiously in workouts (genuinely pleasant) but I'm practically neurotic about it in meets. I have heart health concerns, but it does seem wise to wind down, especially as we age, as other posters have suggested.

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.

Odd warmdown story: one day I was swimming in the lane next to a novice swimmer who had a coach there on the pool deck. After I finished my main set I started a 300 warmdown. When I flipped at the 50 mark, I could hear the coach yell GO. He had his swimmer do a 25 sprint, trying to race me. Even though I was warming down, it wasn't close since the guy was a novice. So then 50 yards later the cycle repeated. By the time I finished my 300, he had done 4 all-out 25's, racing me each time, and each with the same result. I hopped out and was breathing through my nose as the novice was gasping for air and looking demoralized. I felt bad for him. I'm not sure why his coach thought that was a good idea.

Heart rate during stretching should be low (120-140 beats/min or 20-23 beats/10 sec) 120-140 is low? I realize that some people get to much higher HRs at maximum exertion than I do, but surely even most of those sprinty people's HRs drop below 140 by the time they get out of the racing pool and into the warm-down pool. It's getting the HR back down below 90 that takes a little time.