Since the beginning of sport, humans have warmed up before competition to ensure they would be at their peak for the big event. But why? This week we’re going to discuss where warm ups came from, how they are linked to injury prevention, why you need to be doing them and what to do in them. I feel this is a good place to follow on from last week’s well received blog on injuries. Don’t forget to check that one out if you haven’t done so yet! Just click here.
Before we hit up some of the science behind warm ups and get into the juicy details on what you should be doing and when, I’m going to let you guys know what’s been going on with me this week.
If you’ve been reading my blogs, you might know my dad had to get his hip replaced 6 weeks ago. After an incredible turn around he got the all clear to return to work and the gym and just start doing everything again. He’s able to get back out on the golf course and start doing some work on his short game which I could see he was delighted about as he was telling me. After seeing him go through a tough couple of weeks at the start it’s fantastic to see him flying around the place.
Warm Ups are not new news
People have been giving out stink about warm ups, particularly in the GAA, for several years at this stage and have been putting the blame on sports science and performance coaches… what’s new. But little do they know, warm ups have been around for centuries, going as far back as the very first Olympic games held in Greece all those years ago. Humans competing in any sort of physical activity have done some sort of limbering up to get their body ready to perform long before sports performance was even a discipline.
Before, a warm up might have been just kicking a ball around with a cigarette out of the side of your mouth… which you still might see at certain levels of playing. But at the top level there are various stages to a warm up, all of which have a specific purpose and role in relation to the performance that will follow. Of course, the more we learn about the body and about performance the more specific warm ups have become. Long gone are the days of a few laps to get warm. Usually warm ups will follow a RAMP protocol, raise the heart rate, activate the muscles, mobilize the joints and potentiate the body. If done correctly this should include both skill work related to the sport and general warm up activities.
So what I’m saying is it’s not the fault of the performance coach that you’re doing warm ups.
Why Warm Up?
To understand why we should warm up I think first we need to understand what a warm up does to the body. What’s the old Ronseal saying? It does exactly what it says on the tin? That’s warm ups. The goal is to increase body temperature. By doing this, we also increase the suppleness of muscles. If we can do this gradually and in a structured order, increasing intensity as we go, we hopefully will limit the potential for muscle injury in the game.
It’s really not complicated to be honest. A formulae 1 driver wouldn’t just take their car out of the garage and go to the start line ready to race… they do a few laps to get the tires warm and get the engine running. Our bodies need the same treatment. If you think you can rock up to your event and ‘just go’ you’re wrong, sorry.
If I don’t warm up, what can happen?
I’m not saying every single time you go to perform and don’t warm up you’re going to get injured because there are plenty of weekend worriers out there who train or run without warming up. However, you will get injured at some point. It could be a gradual buildup of stress that may lead to a big injury down the line. Either way, you’re not going to be anywhere near your best performing cold. If you rock up to the gym and just try start lifting your working sets, bad things are going to happen. You’ve not given your body a chance to loosen up and mobilize, so your range of motion isn’t going to be as good as it can be so you’re going to have to compromise elsewhere and you haven’t primed the muscles you’re aiming to train either so different muscles may kick in to execute the lift. If you try and load a ‘cold’ muscle you’re going to shock it and we already know from past posts that the body hates change. That’s why a gradual warm up eases the body into a session.
Personally, I know if I don’t do certain things before I go running I’m going to be extremely sore for the following few days and not in a good way. I need to make sure I do some work around my hamstrings and glutes to ‘wake them up’ (just get them doing a bit of work) otherwise my lower back and hip flexors take a lot of the load. Some coaches don’t believe in switching on muscles like that but whatever the research says, anecdotally I find it works for me and it’s worked for a lot of other people too.
What can I do?
There’s a lot to be said for simplicity. Here’s a simple 5-minute flow you can do to raise your heart rate, increase mobility and flexibility and activate key muscles. All these exercises can be found on YouTube if you’re not sure what they are.
· Inch worm X 5
· Spider lunge x 3 each side
· Glute bridge (2 sec hold at the top) x 10
· Reverse lunge x 10 each side
· Single leg RDL x 5 each side
So folks, there we have it. A simple history on warm ups, what they are and why you should do them. They are one of my favorite parts of a session and game. It’s the best opportunity to set the tone for the day and see who’s up for it and who’s not. You can tell a lot about someone from the way they approach a warm up.
Hopefully you enjoyed this and as always, learned something. Next week is a special one for me, it’s going to be blog post No. 20. I’ll try have a killer topic for you all to celebrate the landmark. Have a great, safe and fitness filled bank holiday guys.
Rory.