The Importance of Warming up before Exercise
The age-old term of the “warm-up” is something that every sporting individual takes part in at some stage of their life. Whether you play competitively or socially, most teams and groups insist on doing a warm-up prior to fully engaging in the training or game. But why do we warm up? Does it really matter if we do it?
The simple answer is yes, there is evidence to show that undertaking a warm-up can improve range of motion, muscle excitability and prevent muscle and joint injury. Park, et al. carried out a study in 2018 which looked at the types of stretching that can be beneficial to athletes during a warm-up. Generally, evidence is conflicted on the efficacy of stretching prior to exercise, static stretching in particular, and studies that positively reflect the use of static stretches are limited in the sporting realm. However, dynamic stretching has been shown to have positive influences on muscle action when used after short aerobic exercise.
That leads us to our next point. Aerobic exercise has been shown to be arguably the most effective part of an athlete’s warm-up. This type of exercise elevates body temperature, reduces muscle stiffness, and increases elasticity of muscles. Fradkin and colleagues have found that aerobic warm-ups improve sporting performance by up to 79% in individuals. So, if in doubt, getting your heart rate up and moving your body is a better way to warm-up than static stretches and slow movements.
Let’s look at a particular warm-up regime that has been proven to work. The FIFA 11 Injury Prevention Basic Warm-Up has been studied within both male and female cohorts. In a 2014 study lead by Owoeye et al., lower extremity injuries were found to happen at a rate 48% lower than that of participants who did not use the FIFA warm-up throughout the season. In female studies, the rate of seasonal lower extremity injuries was reduced by a whopping 68% from using the warm-up correctly.
The regime is comprised of 3 sections. Players are to run and move in a linear fashion between two cones placed approximately 6 metres apart. The first section is running-focused. Players jog in a straight line, circle around a partner for lateral warm-up, rotate hips inwards and outwards while walking, part-take in some shoulder contact, and quick forward and backward running for acceleration and deceleration.
The second section is designed for balance, strength and plyometrics. Single-leg balance holds, eccentric hamstring work such as Nordic Curls, squats with a heel raise and vertical jumps are included. Static planks both frontal and sideways are also present within this section. Studies have been carried-out that show positive effects of core training for athletes. “Core stability allows stabilization of the spine and trunk of the body in order to allow maximal translation of force to the extremities.”
The last section of the FIFA warm-up is made up of running exercises but at a higher intensity and with changes in direction at higher speeds. This part of the routine is arguably the most important for sports that include multi-directional changes and short bursts of acceleration. So, nearly every contact sport on this earth! Linear runs at 70-80% of max pace, bounding, and cutting drills should made up 2-5mins of the total warm-up.
As previously discussed, players may now conduct a short dynamic stretching period to attend to any personal injuries or areas of interest such as calves, lower back or hamstrings. But it is important to remember, that the significant results yielded from the FIFA studies were achieved without including a stretching section to the warm-up.
Keep this info in mind when exercising. Any adults no longer part of sports teams will have to decide themselves whether or not to carry out a warm-up – but I believe that the evidence shows it will definitely be worth your time.
References:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5833972/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19996770
https://www.wakemed.org/ncfc-improve-your-power-performance
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22071395