Professional athletic teams and individual fitness enthusiasts alike often follow a routine warm-up before a game or activity. Warming up helps ready muscles for physical exertion, potentially preventing injuries. However, skipping this routine doesn't necessarily mean you will become injured. Your performance is often enhanced, though, and your body is given time to produce heat and increase its nutrient supply before engaging in intense activity. Talk with your doctor and a professional trainer about proper warm-up activities.
Muscles From Rest to Movement
At rest, only 20 percent to 25 percent of your capillaries are open in skeletal muscle, according to the McGraw Hill publication "Saladin — Anatomy & Physiology." During exercise, blood flow to muscles is 15 to 20 times what it is at rest, delivering needed oxygen and other nutrients for muscle contraction and relaxation. Your muscles also create heat, increasing your internal temperature. Additional blood flow and heat allow your muscles to contract and relax more effectively, making certain movements and activities easier as you continue to exercise.
Muscle Strains
Allowing time for increased blood flow and a warmer body temperature can help prevent muscle strains. Strains are technically tears in muscle fibers. Ranging in severity from minor to severe — where the entire muscle is torn — strains occur when you stretch a muscle past its elastic ability. This event can happen suddenly if you do too much too soon. It can even happen 20 minutes into activity, if you step incorrectly or twist suddenly. However, cold and inactive muscles are more prone to strains. Moving into an intense activity that requires a great deal of energy and power without a warm-up can tear your muscles.
Performance
Because muscles contract better over time, skipping your warm-up before a competition may hurt your performance level. In an August 2006 study published in the “Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research,” military cadets who performed certain tasks without warming up didn’t fare as well as those who performed dynamic or static stretching. The journal featured another study in December 2009 that found participants who warmed up with five minutes of aerobic activity, 10 minutes of dynamic stretching and resistance exercises ran faster and jumped higher. Elite youth soccer players were asked to sprint and jump after warming up with a jog and static stretching, a jog and dynamic stretching or a jog with both dynamic stretching and squat jumps. Those in the third group performed better than those in the previous two groups.
Choosing Your Warm-up
Deciding how to warm up depends on a variety of factors, such as your intended activity and the temperature. A 100-meter sprint race requires a different warm-up from an hour-long yoga class. Dynamic stretching and resistance exercise can ready you for an intense race, while a warm-up with static stretching may better prepare you for yoga. Temperature is also a factor; it takes longer to heat your muscles in cold weather. During the winter, plan on a few extra minutes of time to ready your muscles for activity. Discuss your health and fitness with your physician. Be flexible when it comes to warming up, adapting your routine to suit your current needs.
References
- McGraw Hill: Blood Flow Through Tissues During Exercise
- MayoClinic.com: Sprains and Strains
- "Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research"; Dynamic vs. Static Stretching Warm Up; D.J. McMillian, et al.; August 2006
- "Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research"; The Acute Effect of Different Warm-up Protocols on Anaerobic Performance; R.A. Needham, et al.; December 2009
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