The warmup

13 JULY 2022

THE WARMUP

Have you ever started your session or before a race, and looked at the other runners and thought, is my warmup warming me up for the event I am doing? Or, before a training run, just started to run and not even warmed up?

Some runners will be ballistically swinging their legs around like they’re trying out for Circus, some will be jogging around, others will be sprinting back and forth at full speed like Usain Bolt, and some will be stretching like they are in a hot yoga pod. While it’s likely that doing something is better than nothing, it stands to reason that across the examples noted above, not all of these warmup methods are equally, or effective at all.

not all of these warmup methods are equally effective, or effective at all.

So how should you warm up and do you need to be jogging around and sprinting back and forth.

The aim of a warmup is to Raise the body temperature, Activate the muscles that will be used in the event/movement that you are doing, Mobilise the joints and muscles, and Potentiate the dominant muscles in the activity you are doing.

STRETCHING….

Research has shown it to decrease injury but there are differing conclusions regarding performance gains

When researched in isolation, a warm-up reduced the incidence of lower-limb injury whereas stretching alone did not. The primary reason for stretching is to increase range of motion around a joint. This is pertinent, as research has shown that stretching a muscle prior to a bout of exercise can reduce the contractile force of a muscle.  Lowrey et al. conducted a study for the effects of stretching on a 1-mile uphill run performance and found that those that stretched, took a significantly longer time to complete the mile, rather than those who didn’t conduct static stretching.

In other words, leave the stretching/yoga for a separate session and not before a performance session.

HOW TO WARM UP….

Firstly, getting your group or yourself walking around briskly will raise the heart rate, then I tend to put in some dynamic stretches, as these have been proven to activate the muscles but not effect performance.  I then replicate the movement of running through walk lunges, high knee walks, skipping, pogo jumps, plank walkouts, twisting movements, and other ballistic movements.

Moving into some mobilisation with T spine movement, hip movements etc, and then moving into more explosive movements and in group environments, games.  Thinking about the session I am covering, e.g., Downhill, or uphill reps, I will think about movements that will be involved with that too.

The main thing is to try and have fun whilst doing the warmup, playing fun games such as variations of netball, shark attack, tag etc, can really get a group engaged, and cover all the final sections of a RAMP warm up.

Generally speaking, the shorter the distance/expected time of an event, the more important a warm-up is. As an example, a warm-up would be more beneficial for a 5K time trial than a marathon. This is for two reasons. It is likely that the shorter an event is, the greater the intensity it will be performed at as compared to longer events. Second, a long event such as a marathon or Ultra race will give an athlete time to ‘warm-up’ while they are racing and due to the reduced intensity as compared to shorter distance events, there is not the same focus on the physiological benefits of a warmup.

A caveat to that though in trail/fell running, will depend on the terrain and inclines to be faced, the more technical, whatever distance, the more important a warmup becomes.

COOLDOWN?

While there is clear, science-based research to support the validity and effectiveness of a warm-up, the same cannot be said for a cool-down. 

A cool down is characterized by a reduction in intensity after an exercise session is over. The popular purported benefit of cooling down is to bring down the heart rate in a steady fashion while allowing the muscles to gradually return to normal levels. Is it really necessary?

Bas Van Hooren et al. conducted a study which showed an active cool down does not enhance the same day or next day performance, and do not appear to prevent injuries.  An active cool down may prevent immune system depression and promote the recovery of the cardiovascular and respiratory systems.  So, in short, a cool down is largely ineffective for improving performance for the next session or preventing injuries but can help the bodies system recover.

TO SUMMARISE…

A warmup is likely a very good idea for most endurance sport training sessions or races. However, the longer and less ‘intense’ a race or training session is, the less critical a warmup becomes. Lastly, athletes should test out different warmups in varying environmental conditions to see what works best for them, but also what is enjoyable and fun, so you do ensure to include it before all workouts.