Warm up – Why Bother?
Warming up is not the same as stretching, but because warm up programmes often contain stretches, we tend to confuse the two. In fact, recent research from Australia shows that – at least as far as male cricketers and tennis players are concerned, stretching makes no difference to the injury levels of the athletes. Warming up, however, does. And stretching achieves other things, such as developing overall fitness, improving coordination and suppleness and preventing cramps and muscles spasms, which you probably don’t want either!
Failure to warm-up properly is, in fact, the biggest single cause of sports injury. This is because most muscles, and all the major muscles such as the triceps, biceps and hamstrings, operate in pairs. One muscle contracts as the other stretches. If the stretching muscle isn’t warm, it might not respond or may be overstretched. In the first case you get pulled muscles in the second you get muscle tears. If you seriously damage a cold muscle you can pull the tear the ligament to which it attaches. Remember Wayne Rooney? Well that’s what happens if you damage a ligament.
Warm-up exercises are called stretches because they ease out the muscle and prepare it, and its associated joints for what is to come. They allow your body to perform at its best and protect it against injuries, aches and stiffness during the game, the following morning and later in life. Warming up provides muscles with the glucose and oxygen they need for maximum efficiency and as they get warmer they stretch more easily and you can move your joints more safely.
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