Summary
Warm-up and stretching are widely used as techniques in preparation for intense physical
activity, yet there is little information available to compare their effectiveness
in relation to athletic performance. Fourteen elite Under-19 year old rugby league
footballers undertook each of four preparation protocols (no preparation, stretching
only, warm-up only, warm-up and stretching) in four successive testing sessions. Protocols
were randomly allocated to players in a counterbalanced design so that each type of
preparation occurred equally on each day of testing. During each session, athletes
performed three solo sprint trials at maximum speed. Sprints were of 40-m distance
and were electronically timed with wind speed and direction recorded. Preparation
involving warm-up resulted in significantly faster sprint times compared to preparations
having no warm-up, with a diminishing effect over the three trials. On the first trial,
warm-up resulted in a mean advantage of 0.97 m over 40 m. Stretching resulted in a mean disadvantage of 0.18 m on the first trial, and no significant effect overall despite significant wind assistance.
Warm-up was effective at improving immediate sprint performance, whereas an equivalent
duration of lower limb stretching had no effect.
Keywords
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Article info
Publication history
Accepted:
October 4,
2006
Received in revised form:
September 20,
2006
Received:
January 31,
2006
Identification
Copyright
© 2006 Sports Medicine Australia. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
