Warm-up / run-in
The warm-up includes all measures for immediate preparation for a sporting activity. Warming up creates optimal psycho-physical and coordinative-kinesthetic conditions for training or competition. Warming up is particularly important for coordinatively demanding activities and/or when there is an increased risk of accidents and injuries.
Warming up has various biological aspects:
Muscles: are more elastic, better supplied with oxygen, can react more quickly.
Cardiovascular system: breathing and blood pressure are increased, blood flow to the muscles is improved.
Nervous system: state is more alert, faster information processing, faster reaction, better learning performance.
Passive structures: synovial fluid is released, elasticity of the tissue improves, which helps to prevent injuries.
Methodologically, a distinction is made between a general warm-up and a specific warm-up. A general warm-up involves the whole body, while a specific warm-up prepares the parts of the body that are particularly important for an activity even more extensively. A passive warm-up can take the form of hot showers, rubs or massages. This form of warm-up should only take place in combination with an active warm-up, as a passive warm-up alone does not provide the optimum psychophysical preparation for an athletic performance. Another form can be a mental warm-up, in which the athlete does not actually perform any movements, but merely imagines them.
In military sports, the warm-up is basically divided into three areas:
Introduction: getting started, getting in and out of the mood, motivation, stimulating circulation.
Main part: mobilising the joints, functional gymnastics, dynamic stretching, strengthening exercises to increase muscle tone.
Final part: increase the pulse, do not allow a cool-down phase.
In general, there are a few factors to consider when warming up:
Age: Warming up follows the same basic principles for all age groups. However, the time and intensity changes with increasing age. The older the athlete, the more cautious and longer the warm-up should be.
Training condition: The warm-up must be based on the training condition. For example, a warm-up that is too extensive can lead to fatigue in a poorly trained athlete. Performance therefore decreases instead of increasing.
Psychological attitude: A high level of motivation can increase the effect of the warm-up, while a negative attitude reduces or cancels it out completely. In general, however, the warm-up helps to shape the level of mental readiness.
Time of day: During sleep, the various bodily functions experience a strong attenuation or a complete shutdown. After waking up, it takes a moment for them to reach their maximum performance level again. Warming up in the morning must take correspondingly longer.
Temperature: Outside temperature and climatic conditions have a favourable or unfavourable effect on the warm-up process. A high temperature helps to shorten the warm-up time, while rainy weather and cold weather prolong it.
Timing: The optimum time between the warm-up and the main part/competition is 5-10 minutes. The warm-up effect remains at a relatively high level for around 20-30 minutes and is only no longer detectable after around 45 minutes.