Assessing Various Warm-Up Protocols In Soccer
Finding and performing a proper warm-up is going to be something that’s vital to focus on if you want to maximize your performance level.
Often times those who are participating in various sports will feel uncertain about what the best type of warm-up is to help guarantee results so it’s important to take a look and assess this.
A study was conducted out of the Exercise and Sport Science Department in Manchester that looked at three different warm-up protocols including ten minutes of either static stretching, dynamic stretching, or dynamic stretching followed by 8 minutes of front squats.
Design
The researchers had the subjects start out with a 5 minute lower intensity jog and then perform one of the three protocols listed above. After the warm-up was complete, they were then instructed to do a countermovement jump followed by a 10 and 20 minute sprint test immediately and at 3 and 6 minutes following each warm-up protocol.
Results
The results of the study indicated that the vertical jump performance was best following the dynamic stretching followed by squatting protocol at three and six minutes and both protocols were better than after the static stretching protocol at 0, 3, and 6 minutes.
Take-Home Message
So the take-home message from this is that if you want to improve your sprinting performance a dynamic warm-up that includes both static stretching as well as dynamic exercise will be the best approach.
Just do take care that the dynamic exercise isn’t at an intensity level where it’s going to interfere with your ability to push hard or else you then may reduce your ability to perform the sprinting with full effort.
Reference:
Degens, H. Morse, CI., & Needham, RA. (2009). The acute effect of different warm-up protocols on anaerobic performance in elite youth soccer players. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research. Dec; 23(9):2614-20.
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