“Is It Really That Important to Warm-Up?”


One of the most neglected ingredients to many athletes’ training program is proper warm-up prior to training. Many athletes don’t even consider performing a warm-up beforehand or if they do it is generally done very poorly and more often than not, incorrectly. For example, athletes can be found warming-up without wearing shoes, the wrong kind of shoes such as flip-flops or unsupported shoes, immediately stretching without any sort of prior warm-up or just simply poor execution of the warm-up exercises in general. All of these prevent the athlete from accomplishing the true importance of a warm-up, which must not be done just because you are told to; it has a purpose and multiple benefits such as:



• Increased core body temperature

• Increased muscle and connective tissue elasticity

• Improved movement patterns

• Increased proprioceptive awareness

• Strengthened stabilizers of joints and spine

• Increased dynamic flexibility

• Readied nervous system for athletic movements

• Prepared better, psychologically for activity




The two most important benefits are lessening of chances for injury and maximized performance from a properly completed warm-up. Once completed, the body and mind are now primed to act within the necessary parameters required for the sport. Remember, one way to tell if you have done an adequate warm-up is that you will have a little perspiration, which means the body is truly warmed-up and ready for more strenuous activity.



When developing a warm-up program for an athlete, it is imperative it follow the needs of the sport as well as the athlete in regards to any possible areas of soreness and/or past injuries they may have or had in the past as well as any weakness in motor skills. The warm-up should utilize many varying dynamic exercises physically preparing the athlete, be it a workout, practice or competition. As stated before, most athletes simply feel it is enough just to stretch before working out, which is known as static stretching. The problem with this is the athlete’s body is not properly warmed-up to stretch creating a situation similar to placing a rubber band in the freezer for a couple minutes, then pulling it out and attempting to stretch it. It doesn’t take much to hypothesize that the rubber band simply snaps under these conditions, which is the same thing that happens to an athlete’s muscles when just stretching is performed without prior warm-up. However, it is appropriate to statically stretch following a training session, especially for any problematically tight muscles or muscular imbalances since the body is properly warmed-up at this point. Instead of utilizing static stretching, athletes should incorporate dynamic exercises into their initial warm-up; exercises that incorporate range of motion through movement. The reason for this is they better prepare the body for movement, increase flexibility, can be more specific to sport and can increase overall conditioning level.



A warm-up can be designed to last anywhere from five to thirty minutes depending on needs of the athlete, discipline, time available and reason for warming-up. Most warm-ups will generally last five to fifteen minutes before practice with the longer warm-ups being utilized at competitions. If you start warming-up consistently for two weeks before training you will see a dramatic improvement in your ability to start the session since the readiness of your physical and mental states will be dramatically enhanced. This is especially true for those athletes who probably just rolled out of bed with very little if any breakfast and expect to complete their workouts. On the other hand, you have athletes who rush to skate after work, have been sitting at an uncomfortable desk all day and now expect to move through a full range of motion without a proper warm-up. From these few points, I hope everyone is now saying “point well taken” and are willing to start a proper warm-up before training.



Because of all of these benefits, when you think about it, nobody really has an excuse not to warm- up prior to activity. While there are many more, these are just some of the exercises utilized on a daily basis in our warm ups.



Warm-Up Exercises:

Butt Kicks


Leg Cross


Pistol Squat

High Knees


Prone Scorpion


Split Squat

Back Pedals


Mountain Climbers


Soldier

Side Slides


Frogs


Sumo Wrestler

Grapevines


Supine Leg Raise


Knee Grab

Side Steps


Front Body Bridge


Box Checkouts

Skips (distance/height)


Ab Bridge


Jump Walk-Throughs

Lunge


Jump Jacks


Jump Rope

Reverse Lunge


Vertical Jumps


Torso Rotation

Squat-G.M.-Calf Raise


Long Jump


Opposite Knee-to-Elbow



By utilizing any of these exercises in a structured format every athlete is able to warm-up their body appropriately before practice or competition. However, it is essential that all of the exercises be done correctly and with substantial effort to achieve their maximum potential towards warming-up the athlete. Now is the time to begin implementing a warm-up into your daily routine if you haven’t already and with all of the benefits how could you not?