Posted on 05/30/2011 7:04:19 PM PDT by Silentgypsy
ScienceDaily (May 29, 2011) — Low intensity warm-ups enhance athletic performance and long warm-ups can sabotage it. University of Calgary Faculty of Kinesiology researcher Elias Tomaras says the idea came to him while watching track and field sprinters warm-up for a race. "If you watch sprinters, short distance speed skaters or cyclists before their race, they will often warm-up for one to two hours, including several brief bouts of high intensity exercise. From an exercise physiology point of view, it seemed like it might be pretty tiring." See Also: Health & Medicine * Fitness * Sports Medicine * Chronic Illness Science & Society * Sports * Educational Policy * Racial Disparity Living Well Reference * Anaerobic exercise * Sore muscles after exercising * Sports medicine * Calisthenic exercise Many coaches and physiologists believe that a longer warm up provides an increase in muscle temperature, acceleration of oxygen uptake kinetics, increased anaerobic metabolism and a process called postactivation potentiation of the muscles. However, very few studies have studied if warm ups has a detrimental effect on performance. As it turns out, the warm-up is one of the more contentious issues in high-performance sport. Different coaches have different theories and not a lot of quality research has been done to identify the optimal warm-up. Tomaras' study, published recently in the Journal of Applied Physiology suggests that at the very least, athletes may want to lower the intensity and reduce the amount of time that they warm up. "Our study compared a standard warm-up, with what we termed an experimental warm-up," explains Tomaras. "We interviewed a number of coaches and athletes to come up with the traditional warm-up."
(Excerpt) Read more at sciencedaily.com ...
In my experience (cycling), I’ve always performed better during shorter races (less than 2 hours) if I’ve had long, hard warm-ups. For longer races (6 hours and beyond) I’ve always performed better with no warm-up at all.
I was a sprinter and hurdler in college.
Looking back, I probably believed about the same thing they are saying. I would stretch and do a bit of short jogs and only a couple of full out sprints of only 20 yards or so just before getting into the blocks.
I’ve ran long distance for most of my life. I’ve never warmed up. Not even for a few seconds. If you can’t warm up just from running in the first 3 steps, there’s something wrong with you. That’s my opinion.
Probably has to lactic acid build up. You also probably want to have decent energy reserve build up in the muscles. Depends on the type of activity.
But you want to avoid lactic acid build up. Probably a slow and steady and short warm up.
Long distance is not short and intense. It is slow and steady. Time enough for you to warm up on the trail without injury or impact on your time. Stretching is probably good idea though.
Yup. Long distance anything is a slower pace and less intense. You are conserving your energy and pacing yourself. So no warm up makes sense. You warm up as you go.
I did stretching, but not before running...except for my neck. I found that loosening up my neck before running got me to relax my shoulders more and thus improved my endurance.
It all depends on what you call “long distance”. My son is in high school, so his “long” races are 3.1 miles long. He warms up for about 10 minutes and does a few 50 m. strides. Less than that and he’s no good!
Yup. Our coach mentioned upper body exercise too. We ran long distance.
Long distance runners often forget this. You don’t want to bulk up though.
Long distance is where you are not in an all out sprint or even a paced sprint.
3.1 miles (Cross Country?) is long distance.
Warm down is important and is often the reason for the warm up the following day.
BTW, make sure your son has really, REALLY, good shoes. That depends on what type of surface, too. But, he’ll thank you later when he is older. “)
While a little warm-up is good for many sports or activities, the experts go overboard on the warming up and stretching bit. I’ve read a number of articles that advocate warm-ups and stretching for walking. I don’t do either, I just start walking. Like a lot of phsyical activities, just start out slow, and pick up intensity as you feel it. I’ve never pulled a muscle once. I wonder if anyone who’s started walking without stretching has?
Holy crap, don’t people use editors and proofreaders anymore? I could’ve written with better grammar when I was a sophomore in high school.
On that note, I remember starting to breathe rapidly to get my heart going for a run to catch the last Metro North train leaving Grand Central one early morning, and just from doing that I tired myself out. Yeah, I was completely out of shape then and still am now, but I find I can move between people pretty fluidly, quickly, without having to do anything beforehand.
Short warm-ups certainly seem better than long ones.
I have found the same in cycling. My road races are not as long as yours since I race in the masters category, and rarely go beyond 50 miles. So for those I require some minimal warmup to wake up the legs after driving to the venue. Criteriums and time trials, cyclocross (typically 45 minutes for masters) and especially track races (velodrome), I need long warmups with some good hard efforts - punch it above AT a few times. Time trial events I need to get up to speed right away, more so on the track (500m, kilo, 2K, 4K) when I am going from a standing start on a fixed gear.
Last summer my son was running 40 miles a week, getting ready for xc season. Just a week before the first race he developed a bad case of plantar fasciitis and the whole season went down the drain. We had always been very careful with his running shoes, bought them at Fleet Feet and sometimes they had to be special ordered. Now he wears Five Fingers and it took care of all his aches and pains. We’ve done a lot of research on barefoot running and we have no doubt that’s the way to go. When people ask me about his shoes, I always tell them the good Lord knows more about feet than Nike or Adidas!
Long distance running is ton of fun. Unfortunately, the feet, legs, hips, ... the whole body takes a beating. I ran Cross Country in High School and am now paying for it 30 years later. Mostly my knees. I have switched to bikes.
Bare feet — interesting. Unfortunately, if your son is the typical American, he is probably not barefoot long enough for his feet to adjust.
As with any sport, injuries will arise if you are not conditioned properly and then push yourself. Injuries that may translate into problems later in life.
It's not surprising. Think about your stride, how does your foot land... on the heel, right? Most likely your upper and lower leg are alligned, so that the shock of landing on your heel is transmitted all the way to your knee, hip, lower back... Have you heard of the fellow who fell off a wall, landed on his heels and broke his neck? Now, when you run barefoot you land on your forefoot. Not one big bone, but a nice set of bones and connective tissue that act as shock absorbers. Then your stride is different, shorter, so that your knee remains slightly bent and the shock wave cannot be easily transmitted. To put it in plain English, running barefoot protects your knees, hips, lower back... You are right, it takes practice and one must ease into barefoot running, to prevent injury to the calf muscles and achilles tendon. But once your legs are used to it... you will discover that you are indeed born to run!
Foot strike patterns and collision forces in habitually barefoot versus shod runners
Daniel E. Lieberman1, Madhusudhan Venkadesan, William A. Werbel, Adam I. Daoud, Susan D’Andrea, Irene S. Davis, Robert Ojiambo Mang’Eni & Yannis Pitsiladis
Nature 2010
Endurance running and the evolution of Homo
Dennis M. Bramble & Daniel E. Lieberman
Nature 2004
Biomechanics of Foot Strikes and Applications to Running Barefoot or in Minimal Footwear
Daniel E. Lieberman, Madhusudhan Venkadesan, Adam I. Daoud, William A. Werbel
Harvard University Skeletal Biology Lab http://www.barefootrunning.fas.harvard.edu/index.html
Foot Strike Patterns of Runners At the 15-Km Point During An Elite-Level Half Marathon
Hasewaga et al.
Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research: August 2007, Vol 21 Issue 3
Yeah! I’m warmed up just sitting here at strabucks with my laptop and coffee! hehe...
Following from your other post....
Exactly. Only they weren't very high tech back in my day. My coach would only treat the symptom. I always tried to run on soft ground and avoid pavement. That probably helped.
A couple of years ago, I hiked 10 miles on rugged and steep trail. About killed my knees. I did carry a fairly heavy pack and, although I had been exercising, I hadn't strengthened on the right muscles for the hike. I was thankful that I had some Motrin. Left me wondering if I'd be able to do that again. Saw some pretty country though. :)
Unfortunately, the damage is already done for me. I probably won't be running any long distances. Hiking? Maybe.
Another problem — weight. I am not the spindly bean pole I was in High School. You tend to be that way when you run long distances. I'd need to lose some weight — that extra weight is hard on the joints.
While I was waiting to be selected for Jury Duty, I read an article in Nat Geo about the ills of walking upright and on two feet. Apparently, it is a design of compromises and everyone will have degeneration of the back and other joint problems by the time the reach we reach 50 years old. It also explained why birth is “so complicated” for women and the child.
Anyway, I have switched to the bike and the bike works well for me. I love long distances... 30, 40, 50 miles. Lots of trails in the Denver/Metro area. It is a thrill that reminds me a lot of long distance running with a lot less stress to the joints. I take my GPS, a small snack type lunch, and lots of water.
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