Am I warm enough
to produce my best performance?
Introduction
Warming up to prepare the body for training and competitive performance is one of the most standard practices common to all
sports. Review studies have clearly demonstrated the role of the warm-up and proposed mechanisms associated with performance
change in power based activities (BISHOP, 2003a and 2003b). Significant interest has also been given to the role of stretching
as part of the warm-up protocol with a particular emphasis on injury reduction (HERBERT & DE HORNEHA, 2007).
The purpose of this short article is to revisit the use of the warm-up protocol for competitive sprint and power performance;
and to identify the practical technologies that can help inform what is the right 'warm-up' for your athlete to ensure he/she
has a greater probability of achieving their physical maximum prior to a competitive effort.
How do you know how warm you are?
Athletes can use various warm-up strategies such as manipulating volume, intensity and type of exercise; or through the use
of passive/artificial heating devices and clothing. At the instance as close to execution of any functional performance
measure, e.g. counter movement jump, 30m sprint; a direct or indirect measure of muscle temperature can be taken to give an
indication of how 'warm' the body and muscles are. Together, these values can be correlated with the functional performance
outcome over time and after repeated trials.
The relationship with muscle temperature and explosive
power and sprint performance is well established to a critical point (Figure 1). This critical point is the balance point
between effort needed to raise muscle temperature and the likelihood of inducing some form of fatigue and therefore reducing
performance.
How
can I measure muscle temperature?
There are various methods to help inform the impact of various warm-up protocols and strategies
on muscle temperature. The gold standard is through an invasive temperature probe. This technique provides a direct measure
of muscle temperature but is impractical for day-to-day coaching, due to the nature of the measurement system and the medical
skills and other requirements for applying the technique.
Other indirect methods of measuring body
temperature can be used related to muscle temperature. These include rectal temperature probes, which are impractical for
applied environments; although recent developments in electronics now include the development of miniature ingestible core
temperature pills to provide a similar measure.
By far the simplest and most practical are those
generic tools used by your local medical practitioner - oral temperature probe underneath the tongue or armpit (to get a steady
reading you need to maintain contact for an extended period of time) or digital ear temperature systems. Both methods are
not perfect but provide a simple, indirect field based measure of body temperature. If used carefully and repeated a number
of times to ensure the readings are steady, it can provide a practical way of assessing the impact of warm-up protocols in
the field against a standard performance measure.
Summary
Although the warm-up is a well established tool in training and
competition performance preparation, relatively little time and effort is spent in getting the process right to ensure an
athlete is likely to achieve maximum sprint and power potential. There are numerous tools that can help inform the process
depending on the assessment environment. These range from direct invasive muscle temperature probes to indirect practical
ear and oral temperature systems to measure body temperature. If used correctly and under consistent protocols the likelihood
of your athlete achieving their best can be increased.
Please note: The author has no involvement
with any of the commercial companies or commercial products mentioned in this article. The e-Ar sensor is not currently commercially
available.
Reported by Scott Drawer, PhD.
FROM: IAAF/NSA 3.2009
