VERIFIED CONTENTAuthor: Maciej Szukała
Although many people say that the warm-up before training is not very important, the statistics are merciless. It turns out that the vast majority of sports injuries are caused by insufficient warming of the body. Find out why it is worth taking care of proper preparation of the body for physical activity and how to properly warm up.
Warming up is as important a part of the overall training as is the mainstream exercise. It should not be neglected as the exercise will then become less effective and may lead to serious injury. When arranging your training plan, always try to find at least a dozen or so minutes to prepare your body for intense exercise. Your he alth may depend on it.
What exactly does a warm-up do?
The warm-up effects are visible on many levels in parallel:
Muscular system and joints
The main purpose of warming up is to increase body temperature and make connective tissue more flexible, especially muscles, ligaments and joints. Higher body temperature means that muscle fibers can contract faster and stronger than before (a decrease in body temperature by only 1 ° C means a 4-5% reduction in exercise capacity).
During the initial phase of exercise, the body's exercise capacity increases. It turns out that after a properly prepared warm-up, we can run faster and lift heavier weights.
Initial preparation of the muscular system, joints and ligaments not only improves the mobility of the limbs, but also drastically reduces the risk of injury. In research conducted with the participation of footballers, it has been shown that a correctly performed warm-up reduces the number of injuries by as much as 75%.
Nervous system
Sports physiologists talk about the so-called clearing the nerve pathways on the brain-muscle pathway. Metabolic changes (aerobic and anaerobic) are intensified and the rate of blood flow in the body increases due to the gradual acceleration of the heart rate.
This is because the central nervous system is stimulated. This, in turn, translates into better coordination and the ability to reproduce movement patterns.
Secretory system
Warming up before training also causes the release of hormones responsible for arousalduring activity, especially epinephrine and cortisol. They are responsible for improving focus, motivation and the feeling of "energy boost".
That's why sports psychologists agree that warming up helps build the right mental attitude and focus on competition.
Circulatory and respiratory systems
Stimulating the body during warm-up leads to a reduction in blood flow in internal organs (except the heart and lungs, where the flow increases) in return for maximum oxygenation of the working muscles.
This is why it is advisable not to eat too abundant meals immediately before physical activity - our stomach does not know then whether it should take care of digestion or leave the central nervous system leading.
Starting activity causes the release of nitric oxide, which affects the vasodilation of the veins (increases their diameter), facilitating the flow of blood that supplies macronutrients to the working muscles.
Your breathing rate also increases as a result of the warm-up. The respiratory center (the part of the central nervous system that reacts, for example, to increased levels of carbon dioxide in the blood) is responsible for this.
What should a proper warm-up look like?
The trainers indicate the three parts that together form the warm-up. Their order is not accidental and results from the successive stages of the organism's adaptation to further work.
Each of these elements is common to exercise, whether we look at endurance (such as long-distance running), strength (such as bodybuilding) or mixed disciplines (such as martial arts).
There is a special warm-up:
- running,
- general,
- specialist.
The running warm-up is nothing more than a slow jog during which simple coordination and dexterity exercises and ballistic stretching are performed. These can be popular rompers, skips, jumping jacks, interleavings, jumping rope.
Much depends on the creativity of the exerciser and the amount of space available. However, remember not to train too intensively at this stage, as this can lead to premature muscle burnout. During the warm-up, the cardiovascular and endocrine systems are prepared.
The general part of the warm-up is to make the muscles more flexible and prepare the joints and ligaments for exercise. Most often it includes simple gymnastic exercises such as push-ups, bends, squats, limb swings or lunges with a twist of the torso.
As much as possible is to be activated during the general partthe number of motor units (to a limited extent, of course). As a result, the feeling of heaviness in the body disappears. Some coaches do not separate this part of the warm-up, combining it with the first stage.
The specialized part of the warm-up serves to improve coordination and muscular sensation. At this stage, simple exercises are performed, which are a simplified version of the target activity. In every sport (and even in every training mesocycle!), The warm-up will be slightly different.
In bodybuilding it can be, for example, performing main exercises with a weight far less than intended, in combat sports, the so-called shadow fighting, simple combinations of shots performed in pairs or working on a bag. Runners can perform ascents, sprints or a short running game (so-called fartlek).
Please note that the intensity of the warm-up should increase gradually. In physiology, there is talk of the so-called training zones (that is, the heart rate ranges that correspond to a specified percentage of your maximum heart rate) from one to five.
While the intensity of the running warm-up is performed in the first two zones, the general part reaches the third zone, and the specialized one even to the fourth and fifth zones.
Of course, the intensity of the warm-up must be determined by the condition of the person exercising, the higher the body's efficiency, the more intense the individual parts of the initial exercises can be. In the case of people with a low level of general fitness, the fourth and fifth zones may not appear at all (or only to a small extent).
How long should the warm-up be?
How long a warm-up should take depends on several factors. What affects its length?
- training level of the exercising person,
- target intensity of training or competition,
- duration of the effort.
As for the degree of training, the higher it is, the shorter the warm-up. This is due to better body awareness, more developed muscular sensation, and overall joint mobility or muscle flexibility. This is why experienced runners can warm up well in a dozen or so minutes, and beginners it will take up to twice as long.
Another issue is the planned intensity of physical activity. The heavier weights you plan to use in the gym or you want to run faster, the warm-up should be correspondingly longer. However, be careful not to exceed the fatigue threshold, after which it will be impossible to activate the appropriate amount of muscle fibers (both warm-up and training will not bring the desired result then).
Finally comes the duration of the effort ithere is a paradox here. It turns out that the shorter the effort, the longer the warm-up should be (this is why 100m runners can warm up for an hour, but a marathon runner may only need one "circle" around the pitch). Why?
Short-term but intense activity (e.g. sprints, sparring, cycling jerks) is connected with enormous overloads of the locomotor system. If we do not prepare it in advance, injuries may occur during exercise.
On the other hand, long efforts, such as marathons, ultra runs or triathlon runs, for obvious reasons, impose limits on the intensity of the effort (if we want to keep the assumed pace until the end of the route, you have to manage your forces wisely!).
As a result, the body has time to adapt to the load gradually, during the activity itself. So many athletes adopt the tactic where the initial stage of activity is itself a warm-up.
So how long should the warm-up really take? The optimal values are from 5 to 30 minutes, while a typical run-in or boxing warm-up takes about 15-20 minutes. Remember to look for the optimal model of warming up for yourself and always try to adjust to the time you have and your abilities.
Consequences of the lack of initial preparation of the body for exercise
Although you can start (and even safely complete) training without a warm-up, it is not recommended regardless of your training experience and the type of sport you do. What is the risk of skipping the warm-up on a regular basis?
- strain or rupture of a muscle or ligament,
- joint damage (e.g. sprain, sprain, subluxation),
- worse limb stabilization,
- increased risk of heart problems (due to rapid changes in blood pressure and heart rate),
- lack of training progression (or even lower form).
There is an increased risk of injury especially in winter, when the connective tissues are less flexible. During the cold months, you need to take special care of warming up and lengthen each part of it accordingly. If you also drink little water throughout the day, you are more likely to contribute to the injury as dehydrated tissues are stiffer.
You should also remember to do the warm-up properly. The breaks between individual exercises should not be too long, because then the positive effects related to the increase in body temperature disappear. The correct technique of performing the exercises is also crucial.
Even the best-planned training program will not help to achieve the effect if the individual movementswill be performed carelessly. In case of doubt, it is a good idea to consult a personal trainer who will demonstrate the appropriate way to perform the exercises.