As long as there has been sport, athletes have used pre-competition warm up to protect themselves against injury and enhance their performance. While many traditions in athletics are perpetuated by superstition and not results, warm up is not one of them. There is considerable evidence showing that warm up protects against muscle and connective tissue injury by increasing blood flow and elasticity in these tissues. In addition to providing a provable safety margin, warm up can also directly improve performance in the following three ways: (a) it allows athletes to familiarize themselves with the competitive environment as well as to polish or rehearse the required athletic movements; (b) by grooving familiar skills and placing the athlete in the arena, warm up also encourages peak mental preparation; and (c) the physical or "warming up" aspect of warm up primes the body to produce energy at maximum efficiency and perform obligatory movements at minimum cost.
Of warm up’s performance enhancing components, it is the third aspect, the actual physical warming of the body, that is least understood. Indeed, the most prevalent reason for not warming up may be the fear of becoming unduly fatigued, of sapping ones vital energy supplies. The paradox is that, in simplest terms, the energy invested in a proper physical warm up is returned many times over during the actual event.
Nowhere is this paradox more evident than in swimming, a sport mediated by energy production and energy expenditure. Warm up helps in both halves of the equation by increasing energy output, decreasing muscular resistance, and decreasing the time required for motor messages to travel from brain to muscles and for sensory messages to travel from muscles to brain.
More than a few desultory stretches, hops on the pool deck, or lazy laps in the pool are required, however, if one wants to begin a race physically primed. Admittedly, extremely long or rigorous warm ups can unduly fatigue competitors, especially those who are not well trained, but most warm ups are too brief and /or too easy, not too hard. In fact, a minimum of 10-15 minutes of exercise at 65-70% of maximum heart rate is required to bring about the necessary increases in muscle and core temperature. The warm up activity should be vigorous enough to cause visible sweat production at room temperature.
Although temperatures begin to decline upon cessation of exercise, some of the warm up’s thermal benefits persist for 45-90 minutes; as well, subsequent racing efforts help maintain these higher temperatures and thus prolong the warm up’s effects. And contrary to popular opinion, shorter events actually require longer warm ups. Edwin Moses, arguably the greatest 400m hurdler ever, would warm up for 45 minutes before his 45 second event. Certainly this kind of attention to detail contributed to his many world records and decade-long winning streak.
It is probably true that children require less warm up than adolescents or adults, but the potential benefits of being properly prepared are no less significant. In a study by the present author, collegiate swimmers who performed a 15 minute warm up swam the 100yd freestyle 0.75 seconds (1.23%) faster than their non-warmed up peers. Because smaller time differentials than this often determine the outcome of a swimming race or make it possible to attain that coveted qualifying standard, warm up represents one of swimming’s most sensible and pragmatic traditions. Don’t leave the starting blocks without one.
Mr. Romney is the head coach of the North Whidbey Aquatic Club in Washington.
APA reference format
Romney, N. (2010, January). Warm up: Don't leave the starting blocks without one. The Sportkid Project. Retrieved from http://www.sportkidproject.com/articles/romney001.html