In praise of cool-down

[HornetMaX]

Doing a training plan for a FM in the last 12 weeks (plan already done once in the recent past) I noticed that I felt tired the day after most sessions (excluding low-intensity ones). Normal, one could say, but I didn't recall it from my previous cycle on the same plan ... then I realized I somehow drifted back to "unconscious incompetence" state and skipped cool-down almost always. As soon as I reintroduced cool-down I immediately felt less tired the day after.

10min at "as slow as you can" pace is enough. 5min works too. If you're really on a rush, even 3min cool-down seems to do good to me (compared to no cool-down at all).

Note to self: don't skip it.

[Sakly]

I absolutely agree on high intensity sessions, I do a warmup and cooldown every time for these sessions.
For long steady states I do no warmup and no cooldown, as the intensity is already lower as my warmup and nearly the same than my cooldown pace, so it doesn't make sense. I don't build up any fatigue during long steady states anyway, which would make a cooldown necessary. That seems to align with you.

[Dangerscouse]

That's interesting as it shows we are all different. I also don't warm up or cooldown for a steady state session, and I've only started warming up in recent months, and I only occasionally do a cooldown, but it's never been detrimental to my recovery if I didn't do a cooldown

[Sakly]

That's interesting as it shows we are all different. I also don't warm up or cooldown for a steady state session, and I've only started warming up in recent months, and I only occasionally do a cooldown, but it's never been detrimental to my recovery if I didn't do a cooldown

I also used to skip cooldown after a hard session and don't feel much benefit for recovery, if I do a cooldown, but I started doing them few month ago, as I feel better directly after the hard session and my legs lose up a bit.

[Jbrown1215]

Agree on the benefits of cool-downs after hard sessions… I’ll usually wait ~3-5 minutes immediately after the main body of the workout then do 1-2k of feet-out paddling with the damper at 1, focused solely on technique and breathing. Splits usually end up around 2:20-2:30 but I’m not paying much attention to them.

[Tsnor]

We're all different. Do what works for you. I do about 5 mins wind down after hard intervals, nothing after a hard steady state or slow steady state.

If you like medical summary studies as input, most of the stuff I've read is like this one. It looked at all the studies they could find on active and passive cool down. There is a long list of things that are not significantly impacted. But they did find that the active cooldown time is a workout, adds to training load and can improve your conditioning, so you are getting a bit more work in the active cool down. I cut/pasted some of the info, hopefully not too biased. if interested read the study.

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/P ... plications.

Next-Day(s) Performance
Conflicting findings have been reported with regard to the effects of an active cool-down on next-day(s) performance, with some studies reporting small to moderate magnitude benefits of an active cool-down compared with a passive cool-down, and others reporting trivial effects or small decreases

Same-Day Performance
Elite athletes often train or compete more than once a day, so recovery interventions between training sessions or events may help to restore exercise performance. This section only discusses studies that have investigated the effects of an active cool-down after at least 4 h of rest between training sessions.
Relatively few studies have investigated the benefits of active cool-downs on performance measured > 4 h after exercise, and these studies generally found trivial (statistically non-significant effects), and sometimes even small (non-significant) detrimental effects of an active cool-down on performance

Removal of Metabolic By-Products
A large body of research has shown that a variety of low- to moderate-intensity active cool-down protocols are more effective than a passive cool-down for removing lactate from blood and muscle tissue. ...The functional benefit of faster lactate removal is debatable.... Blood lactate returns to resting levels after high-intensity exercise within approximately 20–120 min—even without any post-exercise activity

Delayed-Onset Muscle Soreness
Most studies among both recreationally active individuals and professional athletes have found no significant effect of an active cool-down on delayed-onset muscle soreness or tenderness at different times following exercise (i.e., ranging from immediately after exercise up to 96 h after exercise)

Indirect Markers of Muscle Damage
There are conflicting findings with regard to the effects of an active cool-down on indirect markers of muscle damage, with most studies reporting no significant beneficial effect of an active cool-down. Moreover, the relation of some of these markers with actual muscle damage is questionable—that is, a faster recovery of these markers does not necessarily correspond to a faster reduction in actual muscle damage.

Neuromuscular Function and Contractile Properties
An active cool-down does not significantly affect the recovery of neuromuscular function or contractile properties. However, in all studies there were generally small but non-significant positive effects of the active cool-down recovery on the recovery of neuromuscular function and contractile properties.

Stiffness and Range of Motion
The scientific evidence available suggests that an active cool-down does not significantly attenuate the decrease in range of motion and perceived physical flexibility, or attenuate the increase in musculotendinous stiffness up to 72 h after exercise

Recovery of the Immune System
During the recovery period from high-intensity or prolonged exercise, there can be a temporary depression of the immune system. ... In summary, these findings suggest that an active cool-down may partially prevent the depression of circulating immune cell counts immediately after exercise, but this effect is probably negligible > 2 h after exercise.

Cardiovascular and Respiratory Variables (Benefit !)
The cardiovascular and respiratory systems are highly active during exercise to supply the exercising muscles with blood and oxygen. These systems do not immediately return to resting levels after exercise, but remain activated for a considerable amount of time. For example, heart rate remains slightly elevated above resting heart rate for a relatively long time after exercise. ... In summary, these findings suggest that an active cool-down may result in a faster recovery of the cardiovascular and respiratory system after exercise.

Sweat Rate and Thermoregulation
(They had limited data, so take with grain of salt) Although an active cool-down on a stationary bike results in a higher sweat rate compared with a passive cool-down, core temperature is not lower even after 30 min of active cool-down [65, 75, 113–116]. Therefore, an active cool-down performed on a stationary bike does not result in a faster recovery of core temperature compared to a passive cool-down.

etc.

[HornetMaX]

Delayed-Onset Muscle Soreness
Most studies among both recreationally active individuals and professional athletes have found no significant effect of an active cool-down on delayed-onset muscle soreness or tenderness at different times following exercise (i.e., ranging from immediately after exercise up to 96 h after exercise)

This is what seems to be different for me, I do feel less muscle soreness (night after the session and/or day after) if I do some cool-down.
But admittedly it's more of an impression than a study (and, of course, it's a sample of 1).

[MPx]

Sample of 2 actually - that's also why I do it. My CDs are usually very short - of the 2 to 4 min variety. The reason is that I found next morning after hard stuff I was stiff and ached. After a short cool down I'm not. Since I erg most days I was very often stiff/aching. But not for the last few years after introducing the short CD. (On SS days I simply slow even more for the last minute or two, my CD is not a separate piece).

[H2O]

To put another angle on cooldown: I like to row at night in freezing temperatures. I can do much more volume if the cold bites.