Takano Athletics

One of the problems that I see regarding the training of athletes is the inordinate amount of time given over to warming up.  I see all too many athletes spending too much time and energy on a warm-up that isn’t entirely necessary and in fact detracts from the training and performance of the athlete and the team.

For serious athletes, energy for training is at a premium.  In fact the next great frontier in the training of athletes is the issue of restoration after demanding training.  The entire point of restoration is to heal the body after rigorous training in order to have enough energy to effectively participate in the next day’s training.  So why waste energy on unproductive activities.

From my perspective as a weightlifting coach, the idea of the warm-up is to literally make sure that the body is warm enough to function at optimal levels.  Chemical reactions take place more rapidly at higher temperatures, connective tissues are more elastic and an accelerated heart rate due to elevated body temperature insures that materials are transported more rapidly to and from the functioning tissues.

On warm days younger athletes need very little warm-up at all.  They will be using enough energy later on to remove excess heat from the body.

Larger athletes are always quite warm, and may only need to encourage circulation to the extremities.

Unfortunately older athletes may need the most warm-up due to lesser circulation and yet have the least amount of energy to put into training.

I became intrigued with the topic of energy of warm-up when I read an article in one of the old Soviet Weightlifting Yearbooks.  The article told of how Soviet coaches were experimenting with zip-up bags that athletes climbed into and sat in under the Sun and were able to warm up without any active energy expenditure.

Topical analgesics are a good way to passively warm-up joints and induce more elasticity in the connective structures.

As we all know now stretching is most effective when it is done at the end of the workout and not during the warm-up as it can adversely affect the generation of force.

One of the best indicators of your warmth is the temperature of the head since it is a key organ for heat loss.  If the head is warm to the touch, the body is probably warm enough to begin a training session with moderate activity graduating up to the most demanding.

So the idea is to spend as little active energy on the warm-up and spend it on effective training activities that will lead to enhanced performance.

I’ve found that there is a belief common to many coaches that they have to train their athletes longer and harder than other programs in order to bring about effective results.  A training session may be longer and harder, but if it is not well planned to deal only with practices that will enhance performance, the energy that could be spent on restoration is wasted and the overall development of the athlete may be impeded.

This may be especially important for adolescent athletes who will need a great deal of energy just to grow the body.

We need to keep in mind that more training is not the same as more effective training.  Certainly demanding rigorous training is a necessity for an athlete to reach maximum potential, but the training must be carefully planned so that the rigor is targeted toward the area most in need of enhancement.