The dynamic warm-up is one of the staples of everyday preparations in a PHYSICAL and MENTAL sense. Regardless of the mental preparation taken to get ready to play, if your body is not ready to perform at its HIGHEST level then the split seconds you may be able to shave off reaction are useless if your body cannot perform the task in the speed necessary. This is the way I have combined knowledge of research backed with the way to prepare the body for football without fatiguing the body. The goal is to increase performance and decrease injury potential!!
THE WHY WE DO A PRE WORKOUT / GAME DYNAMIC WARM UP
· REDUCE INJURY
· INCREASE BLOOD FLOW TO THE SKELETAL MUSCLE, CORE TEMPERATURE & HEART RATE
· AWAKEN THE MOTOR UNITS THAT INNERVATE THE SKELETAL MUSCLE
· SET THE TONE BOTH LITERALLY AND FIGURATIVELY
THIS IN TURN:
· Improves efficiency of movement
· Improves nerve transmission (SPEED OF CONTRACTION)
OUR FOCUS IS ON PREPPING:
· Hamstrings-Hips-Quads-Groin-Glutes-Back-Shoulders-Ankles
· MIND
THE RESEARCH BEHIND THE DYNAMIC WARM UP
· Teams that performed a dynamic warm-up in a study conducted on soccer players in England shower 37% fewer training injuries, 29% fewer game injuries, and severe injuries were reduced by almost 50% (British Medical Journal, 2008)
· Brian Mackenzie, sports coach with the United Kingdom’s national governing body for track and field athletics, cities reduced muscle stiffness, increased muscle contraction speed, acceleration from resting heart rate to working heart rate, better utilization of oxygen, and greater economy of movement due to decreased muscle resistance as some of the important warm-up benefits that impact performance in a sport.
· A study conducted at La Trobe University and published in the “Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research” concluded that body-weight exercise using the glutes provides an optimum warm-up for football…and other sports that rely heavily on the lower body.
· Behm and Chaouachi (Behm, OG and Chaouachi, A review of the acute effects of static and dynamic stretching on performance. Eur J Appl Physiol 111:1-19, 2001) found that dynamic stretching is more helpful than static to improve explosive performance.
· Dynamic stretching has been shown to improve performance through enhancing motor unit recruitment and synchronization, and decreased presynaptic inhibition.
WHY ARE ATHLETES RELUCTANT TO PERFORM A PRE GAME DYNAMIC WARM-UP
· Athletes are relating dynamic warm-up of pre-training and pre-practice to the dynamic warm-up they’ll be put through on game day.
· Turki et. Al 28 investigated the effects of different durations of a dynamic warm-up on sprint performance. They compared one (15-17 min), two (20-22 min) and three (25-27 min) sets of five dynamic stretches. Performing one or two sets of dynamic movements significantly improved 20m sprint performance, but performance decreased following three sets of the warm-up, with the authors suggesting this was due to fatigue. As such, it appears that the duration of the dynamic warm –up is an important variable to consider when designing an optimal warm-up
· It can be proposed that a pre-exercise dynamic warm-up for maximal muscle performance should have 0-10 minutes of cardiovascular activity followed by a dynamic stretching protocol of between 5-15 minutes.
GAME DAY WARM-UP
· My game day warm-up will be a much shortened version of my pre-practice/ training warm-up. Our goal is simply to awaken/ activate the muscles, literally warm the athlete up, and move joints through a full range of motion.
CHAMPIONSHIP GAMEDAY SOFT TISSUE PREPARATION
· Phase I (Hotel or Locker Room): Foam Roll-Band Stretch- Partner Stretch
· Phase II (Pre-Game Dynamic Warm-up): Mobilize Joints
· Phase III (Pre-Game Dynamic Warm-up+ individual): Activation