Concept2 Forum

I'm curious about what most people do for their cool down.
Lately instead of easy rowing, I've been walking on the treadmill.
I feel like it stretches the back of my legs while I lower my heart rate.

Until recently I never did a cooldown. I find 1000m easy is nice - it helps loosen my back up better than jogging.

5' very easy

I was going to post a question about this very topic. I'm currently doing the Weight loss program and I do do a warmup - usually a 1K or 2K. I have convinced myself the warmup is important.

But after the weightloss session, I have great mental difficulty convincing myself to do do some more...i.e. warm down.

What is the purpose....please convince me.

Brian

BrianStaff wrote:What is the purpose....please convince me.

It's a good way to prevent DOMS. The warm-down means you're flushing metabolism by-products like lactic acid. So generally a good idea.

My normal warm-down is a walk through the shopping centre to the bike parking then 5km on my bike from the there to home.

BrianStaff wrote:I was going to post a question about this very topic. I'm currently doing the Weight loss program and I do do a warmup - usually a 1K or 2K. I have convinced myself the warmup is important.

But after the weightloss session, I have great mental difficulty convincing myself to do do some more...i.e. warm down.

What is the purpose....please convince me.

Brian

I don't know much about the DOMS problem, although there is plenty information about it available on the net. What convinced me was the treatment the horses get after a race. As standard equipment, race tracks all have walkers for the horses to continue moving as their pulse rate drops and their bodies cool down. So you're not a horse. Well, nevertheless, your physiology isn't all that much different. As I remember it, in the century and a half old novel, "Black Beauty," the initial downfall of the poor animal occurred when it was ridden hard and then tied up all hot and sweaty instead of being made to keep moving for a while.

Bob S.

Bob S. wrote: I don't know much about the DOMS problem, although there is plenty information about it available on the net.

I'll research what DOMS is.

Bob S. wrote:What convinced me was the treatment the horses get after a race. As standard equipment, race tracks all have walkers for the horses to continue moving as their pulse rate drops and their bodies cool down. So you're not a horse.

But I've always considered myself to be somewhat of a thoroghbred.

Bob S. wrote:Well, nevertheless, your physiology isn't all that much different. As I remember it, in the century and a half old novel, "Black Beauty," the initial downfall of the poor animal occurred when it was ridden hard and then tied up all hot and sweaty instead of being made to keep moving for a while.

Well, I don't want my downfall to come when I'm "tied up all hot and sweaty".

Brian

BrianStaff wrote: Well, I don't want my downfall to come when I'm "tied up all hot and sweaty".

Brian

Whoops! I hadn't thought about the kinky implications of that phrase.

Bob S.

Citroen wrote:

BrianStaff wrote:What is the purpose....please convince me.

It's a good way to prevent DOMS. The warm-down means you're flushing metabolism by-products like lactic acid. So generally a good idea.

Sorry to say I had no idea what "DOMS" is so I googled it and found this Wikipedia link

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delayed_on ... e_soreness

What it says about micro muscle tears (as opposed to lactic acid) causing DOMS might be debatable but is interesting.

Like some of the others I never did a cool-down until recently when a fellow Ancient Mariner introduced me to the fear of blood pooling after heavy exercise. I now do between 2k and 3k at a 2:30 pace, trying to keep my average heart rate below 120 bpm during the cool-down. I find this makes me feel better and is an easy way to add a few kilometers to my total

john hendrie

BrianStaff wrote:Well, I don't want my downfall to come when I'm "tied up all hot and sweaty".

Don't worry, Brian, Bob was still talking about the rowing!


Cheers
Dave

Bill, I usually try to do the warmdown recommended in the UK interactive program. I'm not sure what it accomplishes but I look at it as an additional UT2 workout. It can't hurt conditioning if you row at the slower end of the UT2 pace while you are in oxygen debt.

I remember my old track coach saying at the end of a workout: "If you can stand you can walk and if you can walk you can run so start jogging gentlemen. Recover under load". (we quickly learned to collapse after workouts). It must accomplish something to recover from oxygen debt under load.

Usually it is somewhat unwise to jog 1k or 2k as a warm-up or cool down. Generally you would want to increase blood through the muscles, increase heart rate, increase flexibility, prepare the body for work you will be doing i.e. rowing, etc in a warmup and adjusting your body back to a normal state in a cool-down. My suggestion would be to follow something like the Crossfit warmup. Where your warm-up will consist 3 rounds of 10-15 reps of Samson Stretch (do the Samson Stretch once each round for 15-30 seconds), Overhead Squat with broomstick, Sit-up, Back-extension, Pull-up, and Dip. Note that for a workout that's dip or pullup-centric, you might want to do something else in the warmup. This will overall provide a much better warmup than just jogging. Jogging mainly warms up your legs, and thats about it. In rowing your generally going to use most muscles in your body leaving out your upper back, arms, etc. if you just jog. For a cool-down you may do something similar to the warmup but understand that cooling down is adjusting your body back to it's normal state and should be done after every workout. With a cool down you will find recovery to be faster due to the body beginning to repair the micro tears in your muscles from the workload instead of it first having to flush out the lactic acid built up in your muscles from the workload. Hope that makes sense.

I was finding that I was getting nausea starting 2 hours after a heavy work out. I saw a suggestion that more strenuous warm downs were advisable. I now do a positively split warmdown starting typically 5-10S/500M slower than the major part of the intense session (i.e. ignore he sprint) and then take down through the bands, i.e. if initially AT, follow with UT1 (5-10'), UT2 (usually 2-3') & 150m or so UT3. I have had a lot less trouble since, although after a tough session, I sometimes take 500m to build up to the required pace.

The positive split idea sounds good and worked for me when I tried it. I normally just drop the pace to 2:20 or so for atleast 10min or until the heavy feeling in my legs is gone. The cooldown does seem to help with recovery and soreness.

Kevin

Warm-up is often sectional rowing of some sort (pick drill or korzos) followed by a progressive increase in pace to a hard UT2/low AT, I then move into some power tens. Total time is between 10 and 20' for an AT or Trans workout, 3-5' for SS (maybe longer if I feel I need it).
I only cool down after AT or Trans work, maybe a very brief one after UT1 if I feel cooked. The cool down is generally a quick carbohydrate drink followed by UT2 rowing for 20', perhaps with some drills thrown in after the first 10'. I found a significant difference in my recovery after I added a long cool down to my hard workouts. Not so much an issue of DOMS, but generally feeling a little better and more energetic for the next workout (this also assumes continued nutrition immediately after cool down). I've also tried x-training as part of the cool down and found it effective. Sticking with rowing worked better, but mentally it was sometimes easier to go for a jog or quick spin.

The 20' isn't a random time. I got the time from Ed McNeeley at several coaching conferences. According to him, it typically takes the body around an hour or more to clear the body of metabolic waste and lactic acid after a workout. However if one rows at UT2 for 20', you will effectively metabolize 80% of the acid within that time frame and hit full clearance in under an hour. This of course allows recovery to begin sooner. Combine it with immediate nutrition in the form of a light snack/recovery drink (homemade or store bought) and you are set.