Warm-up to perform better

Dynamic warm-up for field sports: A-March Walk

When you think of a warm-up what comes to mind? For me it’s, “take a lap, then circle up and stretch!” This was the daily ritual at after school sports practice. It seemed trivial at the time, but the coaches backed their initial command with good reason. Even now when I feel pressed for time, and want to skip the warm-up I tell myself to “take a lap.”

It’s easy to skip the warm-up. It seems like an insignificant item in the whole scheme of things, but in reality every component of fitness adds to one’s performance and gains. After all, you don’t want to get steamed when something goes wrong like an injury or poor training session; it’s better to invest the time and get your workout started right with a proper warm-up.

Let’s Get Physiological

A warm-up does just what it states. It increases the temperature of the body allowing muscles and connective tissue to loosen and prepare for the physical demands of exercise. Tight, stiff muscles are not prepared to generate force and contract optimally, and injury may occur.

As your heart rate and respiratory rate gradually increase during the warm-up period blood flow is increased to the working muscles carrying oxygen and nutrients. When moderate to intense exercise is started right away without a proper adjustment period your heart rate sky rockets to near maximum as your body is desperately attempting to supply the oxygen needed. This makes the workout more difficult physically as your body struggles to adjust, and mentally it is daunting because the exercise is immediately uncomfortable, which may cause you to
view it negatively.

Another task of the warm-up is to increase neuromuscular efficiency and kinesthetic awareness. In other words, you can sense what’s going on within your body. The nervous, muscular, and skeletal system of the body work together as the kinetic chain to produce movement. The nervous system sends messages throughout the body and receives messages from the environment through sensory receptors. By warming up for an activity we are sending the message to our brain that tells it what’s going on around us, what our body is encountering, and what we plan to do. In return the proper muscles and motor units fire to produce movement.

For many people the most difficult part of exercise is getting started. Mentally, a warm-up allows you to get into the right mind set to accomplish the exercise. It increases alertness by increasing oxygen levels, and may increase concentration. This can make a significant difference in your performance.

The Warm-Up in General

In general a warm up should consist of about 5-10 minutes of working at a lower intensity level in whatever activity you are about to engage in. For example, slowly jogging before you hit your ideal pace. The National Academy of Sports (NASM) suggests that a complete warm-up should include a general and specific warm-up.

A general warm-up does not always relate to the exercise that is to come, whereas a specific warm-up does. For example, you may perform a set of push-ups prior to completing a chest exercise or body weight squats before tacking the leg press. It’s important to keep the overall duration of the warm-up limited to prevent fatigue and increase performance.

The Dynamic Warm-up

There has been debate on whether or not static stretching before exercise is beneficial or not. While static stretching is ideal to help alleviate altered muscle-length tension relationships, it may not be best for an athlete before training or competition where more power and speed is necessary. An article in Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport conducted a study with 18 college students to test the effects of holding a static hamstring stretch before performing a 1 RM (repetition max) test of knee flexion. They found that “a single 30 second stretch, if held at the limit of toleration, is sufficient to cause an inhibition in a person’s 1-RM. Additional bouts of stretching will further decerase1-RM.”
While static stretching during a warm-up may not be the way to go for athletes involved in sport, studies have shown that many athletes’ performances are enhanced from a “dynamic warm-up.”

A study published in the International Journal of Sports Medicine “analyzed golf swing performance with a 5 mm. within 30 minutes after warm-up with dynamic stretching, static stretching, or no stretching.”

The results showed that dynamic stretching “provided greater club head and ball speeds as well as straighter swing path.” This could be good news for all you golfers out there. Choose dynamic stretches next time you are on the green.

Sport Dynamics

When I played lacrosse at Johns Hopkins I remember thinking that the warm-up lasted forever. It was back and forth across the field- running mechanics, leg swings, partner stretches, accelerations, core stabilization exercises, and so on. Sometimes we would chat and not pay attention to what we were doing much to our strength and conditioning coach’s dislike. What I see now that I couldn’t grasp then is how important the warm-up is for sport.

Movement of any kind occurs in all 3 planes of motion-sagittal, frontal, and transverse. Muscles contract concentrically, eccentrically, and isometrically. In order to reduce injury we must prepare our bodies appropriately. In sports, such as lacrosse, soccer, basketball, etc we are not only moving in all directions, but we are also generating force and speed. How does one specifically warm-up for unexpected movements?
A dynamic warm-up should prepare an athlete for these movements in order for the athlete to activate working and stabilizing muscles, and also over time gain more neuromuscular control so they can produce the movements and skills more efficiently and reduce the risk of injury.

A study in the British Medical Journal investigated whether a neuromuscular training program is effective in preventing non-contact leg injuries in female soccer players. During the warm-up portion of practice the players performed running technique drills, plyometrics, and strength training exercises in order to learn how to better control their back, knees, and ankles. The program was successful. The researchers found that “a neuromuscular training program to enhance motor skills and body control of female soccer players reduced the risk of injury by 66%.”

Injury to the lower extremities, especially tendons and ligaments is common in many sports and affects players of all ages. It’s important for athletes to learn how to properly prepare to engage in exercise training and sport in order to stay healthy.

Here are a few exercises to include in a dynamic warm-up for field sports.

Hip Openers

Hip Circles: On all fours in the prone position lift one leg laterally as it flexed 90 degrees at the knee. Rotate the leg from the hip in a circular motion. Keep abs tight and back flat. Rotate in one direction for 10 revolutions and reverse. Complete the same sequence on the opposite side.

Over unders: Stand with feet and legs apart wider than hip width.
Sit down low in an athletic stance with knees not overextending past your ankles. Bring one leg to the other as you simultaneously dip lower. Once feet are together lift the outside leg up and over to return to starting position. Repeat for desired distance/repetitions.

Sprint Form Practice

A-March-Walk: Stay on the balls of your feet. Keep chin tucked, eyes forward as you fire one leg up hip level. Fire the opposite arm forward simultaneously. Your fingertips should stop at your chin and the opposite arm should be bent with extended fingertips not going past your glutes. As soon as one foot returns to the ground the opposite leg should fire. Maintain proper form.

B-Skips: Similar to the previous exercise in form, but with the B-skip pick up the pace so you are actually skipping (bouncing off the balls of your feet rapidly and increasing stride length). Instead of driving the leg straight down, kick out and extend at the knee and strike through.

Good luck to all the athletes this Fall. Remember, to warm-up before every practice session and game in order to reduce your risk of injury and stay in the game!