Every athlete should “warm-up” before any event or competition. This is widely known and trusted. But do these athletes or their coaches fully understand how to warm up properly and the ramifications of the warm-up. The benefits of warming up go far beyond the prevention of injury. A well designed warm-up program also has physiological and psychological effects on the athlete.
I’ll talk a little about both of these (physio and psycho) effects and also what I believe to be the best way to warm up.
PHYSIOLOGICAL: A proper warm-up prepares athletes’ bodies for higher intensity work to come. After a few light reps of a movement that mimics what the athlete is getting ready to do, a phenomenon of “Treppe” occurs. This enables a muscle to contract more forcefully after it has contracted a few times than when it first contracts. This is due to the fact that muscles require decreasing degrees of stimuli to elicit maximal contractions. I’ve often been told by my clients that the second set was easier than the first set. Well this is the reason. With a proper warm-up athletes will experience an increased rate of strength of muscular contraction, and increased coordination of a complex muscle movement, injury prevention, and increase in endurance.
PSYCHOLOGICAL: Athletes who warm-up properly tend to be more mentally prepared for the upcoming competition. After going through the Treppe phase, the athlete feels stronger and more confident. The athlete feels that his body is ready to respond more quickly to any stimuli. This confidence translates into a more prepared athlete. The more prepared the better the result.
DYNAMIC WARM-UP: Throughout this message I’ve been referring to a PROPER WARM-UP. What exactly is a proper warm-up?
Let me first tell you what it is not! It is not static stretching!!!! It boggles my mind that I still see static stretching going on before competitions. Coaches, athletes BEWARE! The use of the static stretch before competition has an adverse effect on the athlete, such as calming the athlete , decreased blood flow in the muscles and reduction of overall strength. The elongation of the muscle produced by the static stretch is the exact opposite of you want to happen. In any athletic endeavor the muscles contract rapidly and almost violently to perform the task at hand. Any static stretch prohibits maximal results.
Based on this information, the warm-up should be specific, using exercises involving movements similar to the actual athletic event but at a reduced level of intensity. The warm-up should be dynamic (meaning movement), getting the muscles prepared to contract, getting more blood flow into the desired area. This can be accomplished by using light weights or bands or just putting the body through a series of movements, wood chops or jumping jacks through the three planes of movement. These three planes are sagittal, frontal, and transverse. Any sport is all about moving your body FAST! Not slow. So why warm-up slow? An athlete needs to move in his warm-up. Coaches take heed! Don’t slow your athletes down, speed them up. Warm them up properly..Robert