The Science Behind Preparation

21/09/2023
Noah Soliman

Get to grips with the physiology and mechanisms behind our warm-ups, and learn how their applications can maximise your on-field performances.

Get to grips with the physiology and mechanisms behind our warm-ups, and learn how their applications can maximise your on-field performances. Along with the physical benefits of muscle preparation, get an insight into its psychological benefits to truly understand your mind and body!

It’s common knowledge that before entertaining in any form of strenuous activity, you should ‘warm up’ your muscles. Whether that’s through gentle stretching or light cardio, the decision to perform a warm-up mentally and physically prepares us for our upcoming sporting events. However, what’s uncommon knowledge is the physiological reasoning behind engaging in these activities. In this episode, we will address this ignorance by providing you with a deeper understanding of your muscles, and how this knowledge can apply to your fitness regime.

Why Cardio?

From professional footballers to amateur runners, the consensus for an adequate warm-up involves some form of light cardio. Participating in a gentle run steadily promotes blood flow towards your leg muscles via vasodilation, ensuring they have adequate supplies of oxygen and glucose , in preparation for imminent and intense activity. Additionally, this engagement activates and refines the neuronal connections to your muscles, ensuring expeditious movement and coordination. Along with performance maximisation, cardio also has injury management benefits; increased blood flow throughout your target muscles will increase their elasticity, drastically improving their mobility. A higher in-game range of motion will heavily reduce the risk of your muscles overstretching and straining – especially important for groups such as the hamstrings. With your lower body muscles being injury-prone throughout many sports, jogging is a warm-up staple. However, if your activity demands more from your upper body, we suggest performing warm-up exercises that promote blood flow to these muscles instead.

Why Stretching?

Another form of exercise regularly incorporated into warm-ups is stretching. By exposing your muscles to higher ranges of motion, you are preparing them for the exceptional movements made in-game – such as lunging for the ball. This reduces the probability of your muscle overstretching, and potentially straining. Furthermore, studies have suggested that a higher length will allow the muscle to endure and transfer greater forces, further reducing injury risk via overloading. The combination of improved energy transfer and mobility equates to enhanced on-field performances. As previously mentioned, there is a huge psychological benefit to stretching; you are likely to feel more prepared and confident in-the-run-up to your fixture. In a world led by desk work and video games, stretching is important as ever as our sedentary positions encourage the shortening of our body muscles – a disservice to our mobility and strength! It’s important that you integrate your stretches towards the end of your warm-up, as research suggests that its benefits last around 10 minutes without further activity.

Importance of Light Warm-Ups

Emphasis has been made towards the adjectives ‘gentle’ and ‘light’ for straightforward, but crucial, reasons. Your warm-up should not involve taxing activities, where your endurance and strength are challenged. Not only will this tire your body before the main event, but it also poses an injury risk. Instead, your warm-ups should be mild and put you in a calm, focused mindset. Additionally, we recommend warming up with your team (if applicable), as it creates a sense of unity and intention before the game.

Countless hours refining your technique is only of service if your body functions with the speed, precision, and resilience demanded for competitive play. Therefore, you must incorporate a blend of cardio and mobility drills into your warm-ups. Our arsenal of exercises at PhysioFrog consider your age, sex, and activities played, giving you the tools needed for an effective warm-up. All you must do is execute!

Thanks for reading,

Noah Soliman, Principal @ PhysioFrog