Too Many Athletes Warming Up Wrong Says Australilan Sports Scientist

From the Gallery of the South Dorset Giants 

From the 15 December Media Release of Victoria University, Melbourne Australia

Do you know the difference between static stretching and dynamic warm-ups? Did you know that doing the wrong one of those two can decrease subsequent athletic performance while doing the right one can increase it? If your answer is yes then perhaps you are not one of the athletes that James Zois from the School of Sport & Exercise Science at Victoria University in Melbourne, Australia is referring to when he says athletes are warming up wrong.

Earlier this month, Zois talked to the press about the research he is doing on the effect of pre-competition static stretches and dynamic warm-ups on athletes’ jumping performance.

He found that static stretching decreased jumping performance by nearly 8%, while dynamic warm-ups increased athletes’ vertical jump by 3%.

Static stretching includes things like calf, quad and hip flex stretches. Dynamic warm-ups are range of motion activities such as high knee raises, leg swings and run-throughs, or physical tasks that involve change of direction.

Zois said too many athletes are over-using static stretches as pre-competition warm-ups, and this can be counter-productive. Over-using them just reduces your performance power….

Read entire news article

Related Resources

• Dynamic Warm Up – a “how to” PDF with illustrations at a private soccer club site
• Using Dynamic Warm–Up Exercises instead of. Traditional Warm-Up routines. – a somewhat more detailed PDF adapted from materials at sports-coach.net
• Before You Run: The Dynamic Warm-Up -concise article written by a professional athlete and endurance performance specialist, great links to videos for each of the warm-up elements
• Elite Core and Dynamic Warm-Ups: A Comprehensive Guide – written by a marathon runner and running coach

Related articles

• Too Many Athletes Warming Up Wrong Says Australilan Sports Scientist (medicalnewstoday.com)
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• New Ideas on Proper Stretching Techniques (webmd.com)
• Student Athletes – warming up is important (backrubscom.wordpress.com)
• The Truth About Stretching…Again (blogcritics.org)
• Smart Guide to 2012: How to win at the Olympics (newscientist.com)
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• Conditioning Pt 2 – Warm-ups & Cool-downs (littlebrowndogblog.wordpress.com)
• Static Stretching: Its Effect on Performance (robinluthi.com)