Warming down - how long and how hard?

neeb

So I've recently been using the Zwift 2x20 workout for doing 2x20s. This finishes with a 15 minute warm down, firstly at about 75% of FTP and then eventually ramping down to around 65%. To be honest it seems slightly overkill, I'm more used to just gently spinning at about 100w for 5 minutes to cool down. It's a bit of a chore when you've just finished a knackering workout and I sort of feel I'd be better off getting my recovery drink down me asap instead of faffing away at tempo for quarter of an hour..

Is there a real benefit to this sort of long and "hard" warm down?

imposter2.0

Not personally aware of any benefits of that kind of 'warm down' - I just spin for long enough for my HR to drop back to 'normal' levels (usually 5-10mins tops) before climbing off.

diamonddog

^^This

neeb

Yes, that's what I've always done in the past too. Wonder if there's some theory or reason behind the Zwift warm down though. The Zwift workouts all differ, it just seems to be a feature of their standard 2x20. I usually find myself stubbornly going through with it just so I can get my little gold star.. ;-)

sungod

i just ease off for a few minutes until heart rate drops/breathing is normal

https://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/04/ ... necessary/
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/08/well ... oesnt.html

Alex_Simmons/RST

neeb wrote:

Yes, that's what I've always done in the past too. Wonder if there's some theory or reason behind the Zwift warm down though. The Zwift workouts all differ, it just seems to be a feature of their standard 2x20. I usually find myself stubbornly going through with it just so I can get my little gold star.. ;-)

Time padding probably, or someone trying to make a workout add up to a certain Training Stress Score target.

diy

Long enough for my HR to drop out of zone 2 which will be max 2 mins and then stretch for 5 mins. I usually try to finish on a sprint to get the EPOC effect.

fat daddy

some of the cool downs are painfull on Zwift .... however, in the cool down period it doesn't seem to matter what you do, you still get the star, so more often than not I reach the cool down 10 minute block and ramp it up to 200-230 watts for 5 mins and then cool down at my own pace in the last 5 mins.

All that said, the times I have religiously followed the cool down and sat there dribbling at 120w for 2 mins watching other riders fly past me .... when I have got off the bike I have felt like I never did a work out, by body has cooled down, but not gone in to refridgeration mode and starting chilling me beyond whats required. ... so perhaps it does work ??? ... but who got time for dat !