My observations of common problems of trainee athletes. Part 1 The Warm Up

A Long time ago I wrote about the importance of the warm up for the jumper, but I would like talk again about this theme, because what I see is that there is a great lack of information about this very important part of training.  I get so frustrated when I see athletes running only two laps on the track, and without any warm up they immediately start training.

This week during my first workshop, I was watching what the athletes were doing as a warm up ,and to my surprise ,everybody just ran 2 or 3 laps on the track and they were ready to start training. My first question was, “for how long have you trained in athletics?”  The answer also surprised me-  all of them had  trained in athletics for more than 5 years.  My second question was-“ what kind of warm up do you do?” Another surprise- they said “just running and immediately we start training.”

I want to explain something to everybody- the warm up is crucial as it prevents injuries and prepares the body for any practice of sports and also prepare the athlete physiologically and psychologically.

The Aim of the Warmup is to:

-          Prepare the body to effect an intense physically activity (the body adapts to the stress gradually) and psychologically.

-          Facilitate the stimulation of the nervous system and activation of the vegetative functions (cardio-respiratory).

-         Avoid or reduce the possibility of muscle or joint injuries due to increased body temperature.

I know that here in the UK athletes train for only one hour and in that time they have to do everything but the coaches have to teach the athletes the extreme important of warm up and let them know that this is fundamentally important before starting any physical activity.  The coach is the only person who has the responsibility to stress the extreme importance of these issues.

If you are a jumper (long jump-Triple jump- High jump etc), no matter  in which level you train, and  even if you have only one hour to do your program, a sufficient  warm up must  be included as  one of the most important parts of the training program. 

 Example of how to make a general warm up, divided into 4 stages, as follow. It is important that the stages are done strictly in the same sequence as below:

1.      Joint mobility: This is to put in motion the major joints that we will use in the subsequent activity (especially if we are in the early hours of the morning).

2.      Exercises to increase muscle temperature and increase the number of keystrokes: these are intended to increase the pulse so that more blood comes to the muscle, and to increase the temperature ,enhancing the subsequent stretching exercises

3.       Stretching exercises: These will be made at this stage, not at the beginning of warm up, because we have now increased the internal temperature and therefore are in a position to have stretched without risking injury.

4.      General Exercise: these exercises are intended to equate the heart pulsations at an approximate rhythm activity. In order to get this progression there will be a change of rhythm, direction, skipping and all those exercises of the second stage, done with a higher intensity.

I want to remind you that this is only a general warm up. Each individual athlete should analyse with their coach which types of exercises are best suited to your needs.