Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Importance of a Warm-up


Have you ever wondered about the real physiological benefits of a warm-up and what exactly happens when you go through it?

Well, as you start to exercise your body needs to make a number of quick adjustments. The three most profound changes that occur during a warm-up include an increase in heart rate, neural activity, and temperature.

These “big 3” cause many more subtle changes that contribute to improved performance and a reduced potential for injury including the following:
  • Priming effect of  your nerve-to-muscle pathways to prepare for higher output;
  • Enhanced oxygen and nutrient delivery to muscles, due to increased blood flow;
  • Increased metabolism and muscle temperatures, due to dilation of local vascular beds;
  • Increased nerve impulse transmission at higher temperatures; a specific warm up can facilitate motor unit recruitment required in subsequent all out activity;
  • Increased energy-releasing reactions used during exercise making muscles more mobile;
  • Greater economy of movement, because of lowered viscous resistance within warmed muscles;
  • Greater elasticity within muscles and connective tissue, due to increased temperature;
  • Reduction of unnecessary stress and fatigue on your muscles, heart and lungs, which can occur if you exercise strenuously without a warm-up;
  • Increased oxygen utilization by warmed muscles, because hemoglobin releases oxygen more readily at higher muscle temperatures
  • Mental preparation for the upcoming exercise, from neural rehearsal.
These adjustments require a little time to reach the needed levels. So a warm-up should be gradual by starting your activity at an easy level and increasing the intensity slowly. If you were to start exercising at a strenuous level without a gradual warm-up, your body would be ill-prepared for the higher demands, which could result in injury

How much warm-up?

There is no hard evidence as to how much warm-up is needed before a workout. Most recommendations are in the 10- to 20-minute range, though some people have found they need more warm-up time.

Athletes with high levels of fitness typically need longer warm-up periods before doing high-intensity workouts while people with lower levels of fitness can benefit from a shorter warm-up time. However, keep in mind those individuals with low fitness levels also tend to “perform” at lower levels during workouts and races etc.

It’s also interesting to note that people with dormant fitness need to be particularly cautious with sudden workout intensities in order to minimize injury risk. This means if you were once at a high level of fitness, but you're now unfit, be patient and pay close attention to your warm-ups while building your fitness back to your previous level.

General warm-up:

Example: 10-20 minutes on the bike, elliptical trainer, treadmill, or other cardiovascular machine

Purpose: A general warm-up increases core body temperature making the muscles and connective tissues more elastic. It stimulates the nervous system increasing muscle synergy, and improves circulation to your coronary arteries preparing the heart to supply a higher volume of blood to the rest of the body when your exercise demands increase.

Movement specific warm-up:

Example: 1 or 2 sets of 12 to 15 reps, light load, 30sec – 3min rest before workout set of each new muscle group.


Purpose: Muscle and joint specific warm up with the exact exercises reduces muscle and joint susceptibility to injury, target muscles can contract with greater intensity, and motor skill and breathing are rehearsed.  Specific warm-ups are more effective for weight training than general warm-ups.