Power Athletes Should Warm Up

When you train, what do you do to warm-up? 

Do you ride the bike or get on the treadmill? Do you have some stretches or mobility drills you go through? Or does your warm-up consist of doing a few extra sub-maximal reps of your first exercise?

When we're pressed for time, the warm-up can  be the part of the training session that gets trimmed. And if we're looking to  be specific with our training it can be hard to see the benefit of warming up when it comes to a fat loss or strength goal. 

But the truth is that we should always make time to warm-up. And while the title mentions power athletes, this includes runners and other aerobic athletes. The winner of any Ironman or marathon will be the one that can sustain the highest power for the longest. So yes, even endurance athletes need power.

A study looked at the impact of static and dynamic stretching on the counter movement jump, reaction time and flexibility. 

Here's what they did.

Twenty one recreationally trained male lifters rode by the bike for 5 minutes and then followed one of three stretch protocols. The first did no stretch, the second did static stretching and the third did dynamic stretching. They then measured the counter movement jump (i.e. a test of power), reaction time and flexibility.

The jump test was performed on a force platform and the test subjects jumped as soon as they saw a light stimulus. Flexibility was measured using the sit and reach test. 

What they found was that static and dynamic stretching both improved flexibility but with no significant difference between the interventions. The no stretching group saw no improvement in flexibility, as would be expected.

In terms of the counter movement jump, the results were as follows:

41.4 cm - no stretching

41.9 cm - static stretching

43.0  cm - dynamic stretching

Although it might not seem like much, there is almost a 2% difference in power production when subjects performed dynamic versus static stretching. 

But over the course of a 2:30 marathon, 2% equates to 3 minutes. Look at the difference 3 minutes to the top marathoners in the world. In Malindi's case, this would move her up to 4th place, from 9th, and within striking distance of a medal.

Too often we may skip out on our warm-up for a variety reasons. Know that you will get more out of your workout, in this case power production, and be closer to achieving your goal.

Reference

Perrier, E. T., Pavol, M. J., & Hoffman, M. A. (2011). The acute effects of a warm-up including static or dynamic stretching on countermovement jump height, reaction time, and flexibility. The Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research, 25(7), 1925-1931.