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)
• Research cool on benefit of warm-up stretches (theage.com.au)
• Warming Up (bruteforcegrl.com)
• 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)
• Warming Up (bruteforcegrl.wordpress.com)
• Conditioning Pt 2 – Warm-ups & Cool-downs (littlebrowndogblog.wordpress.com)
• Static Stretching: Its Effect on Performance (robinluthi.com)

 

Stretching before a run does not prevent injury

Stretching before a run does not prevent injury
However, runners who typically stretch should continue, or risk injury

This image was originally posted to Flickr by SteelCityHobbies at http://flickr.com/photos/94767754@N00/1394011566.

From the February 18 2011 Eureka news alert

Stretching before a run neither prevents nor causes injury, according to a study presented today at the 2011 Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS).

More than 70 million people worldwide run recreationally or competitively, and recently there has been controversy regarding whether runners should stretch before running, or not at all. This study included 2,729 runners who run 10 or more miles per week. Of these runners, 1,366 were randomized to a stretch group, and 1,363 were randomized to a non-stretch group before running. Runners in the stretch group stretched their quadriceps, hamstrings, and gastrocnemius/soleus muscle groups. The entire routine took 3 to 5 minutes and was performed immediately before running.

The study found that stretching before running neither prevents nor causes injury. In fact, the most significant risk factors for injury included the following:

• history of chronic injury or injury in the past four months;
• higher body mass index (BMI); and
• switching pre-run stretching routines (runners who normally stretch stopping and those who did stretch starting to stretch before running).

“But, the more mileage run or the heavier and older the runner was, the more likely he or she was likely to get injured,”

“As a runner myself, I thought stretching before a run would help to prevent injury,” said Daniel Pereles, MD, study author and orthopaedic surgeon from Montgomery Orthopedics outside Washington, DC. “However, we found that the risk for injury was the same for men and women, whether or not they were high or low mileage runners, and across all age groups. But, the more mileage run or the heavier and older the runner was, the more likely he or she was likely to get injured, and previous injury within four months predisposed to even further injury,” he added.

Runners who typically stretch as part of their pre-run routine and were randomized not to stretch during the study period were far more likely to have an injury. “Although all runners switching routines were more likely to experience an injury than those who did not switch, the group that stopped stretching had more reported injuries, implying that an immediate shift in a regimen may be more important than the regimen itself,” he added.

The most common injuries sustained were groin pulls, foot/ankle injuries, and knee injuries. There was no significant difference in injury rates between the runners who stretched and the runners who didn’t for any specific injury location or diagnosis.