THE WARM-UP

If you watch any athlete, soccer players, tennis players, etc., during
practice or a game, you will see that before they start, they do a series of
exercises. No athlete ever begins a game or a practice cold. Before they
play, they do what we call a warm-up.
We can define warm-up as a set of exercises that are done before
doing a physical activity with the objective of physical and psychological
preparation before the activity.
Warm-up is a collection of physical exercises of general and specific
character.

WARM-UP OBJETIVES
The fundamental objectives of the warm-up are:
To prepare our muscular, skeletal, nervous, cardiovascular, and
respiratory systems. That is, making our body (the muscles, tendons,
bones, joints, nerves, heart, and lungs) ready to do some type of
activity
To avoid the risk of injuries.
To prepare psychologically the athlete before a match, game,
practice, etc.

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WARM-UP EFFECTS
To raise the temperature and the flexibility of the muscles. It makes
the movement easier.
Body temperature rises. (The muscles will
not be cold, which will help to prevent
many injuries and assist in bodily
movement.
Heart beat increases. (You will notice your
pulse quickening.) The heart will beat faster
and harder, circulating more blood through
the blood vessels and moving more oxygen
to the muscles.
Increases respiratory frequency. Breathing
will occur more rapidly and deeply. This
allows us to take in more air from outside, from which we can
extract oxygen that our body needs while exercising.
It improves coordination and prepares us psychologically.
WARM-UP STRUCTURE
Warm-up consists of some fundamental parts which never must be
missing:
1.
Movement exercises: aerobic exercise of low intensity to
wake up and raise the temperature of the body and the heart rate. For
example: light running, jump rope, etc. This part finishes when we start
sweeting.
2.
Joint Mobility Exercises: waist
turns, arm circles, ankle movements, etc. Such
exercises can be performed while an athlete is
stationary (static phase) or while an athlete is
moving (dynamic phase), for example, walking
while doing waist turns.
By doing these joint mobility exercises, athletes can avoid possible
injuries such as sprains, strains, etc., making it possible to do much larger
movements.
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3.
Stretching. Stretches help athletes avoid injuries and perform
exercises more easily. It should be a dynamic stretching exercises (not
static)

Important: Stretches should be done slowly and smoothly, and painful

movements should be avoided.
FACTORS TO BE TAKEN INTO ACCOUNT IN THE WARM-UP
When we have to warm-up we mustnt forget some fundamental
factors in order to do it correctly:
1. The exercises always have to follow one order in rising direction
(from down to up) not to forget any part of the body.
2. The duration must last between 5 and 10 minutes in Physical
Education classes. You must devote it more time for other more
strenuous activities.
3. The intensity must rise progressively, you must start gently and
you must raise it gradually.
4. You mustnt make sudden efforts or movements with a great
difficulty and the warm-up mustnt be extenuating. It should just
prepare the body for the physical activity.
The duration and intensity of a warm-up will depend on the main activity to
be performed after. A swimmer does not warm up the same as a soccer
player, or the same as a student in P.E. class. Additionally, within the same
activity, the duration might vary due to other causes, the temperature (the
warm-up will be longer when it is very cold, and it will be shorter during
summer months) or the personal needs of the athlete (some people need
more time to warm up than others to receive the same benefits).
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TYPES OF WARM-UP
Depending on the purpose we can distinguish two fundamental kinds
of warm-up:
General warm-up; it is used to prepare us to do any kind of activity
and it involves all the parts of the organism. They will be global
exercises moving all the body, alternating the different parts of the
same, and stretching. ALWAYS.
Specific warm-up; it will prepare us for one more specific activity.
So, we must consider in its execution the sport or the activity were
going to do later and to have a bearing on the body parts which get
most involved in this activity or sport. For instance a basketball
player will shoot baskets, lay-ups, etc., while the handball player will
shoot at the goal, etc., each of them with different equipment and
conditions.
Remember: The specific warm-up will always take place after the
general warm-up is complete.

KEEP ON MOVING, BUT WARM

UP BEFORE, PLEASE!!!

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Dpto. Educacin Fsica // I.E.S. El Astillero.