Abstract. If u is a smooth solution of the Navier-Stokes equations on R 3 with first blowup time T , we prove lower bounds for u in the Sobolev spacesḢ 3/2 ,Ḣ 5/2 , and the Besov spaceḂ 5/2 2,1 , with optimal rates of blowup: we prove the strong lower bounds u(t) Ḣ3/2 ≥ c(T − t) −1/2 and u(t) Ḃ 5/2 2,1 ≥ c(T − t) −1 ; inḢ 5/2 we obtain lim sup t→T − (T − t) u(t) Ḣ5/2 ≥ c, a weaker result.The proofs involve new inequalities for the nonlinear term in Sobolev and Besov spaces, both of which are obtained using a dyadic decomposition of u.