CALGARY, Alberta, May 29 (UPI) -- Many coaches say a long warmup provides an increase in muscle temperature, helping anaerobic metabolism, but Canadian researchers say it can hurt performance.
Elias Tomaras of the University of Calgary says a longer warmup boosts muscle temperature, acceleration of oxygen uptake kinetics, increased anaerobic metabolism and a process called postactivation potentiation of the muscles believed to help race performance.
"If you watch sprinters, short distance speed skaters or cyclists before their race, they will often warm up for one to two hours, including several brief bouts of high intensity exercise," Tomaras says in a statement.
"From an exercise physiology point of view, it seemed pretty tiring."
The study involved high-performance sprint cyclists performing a warmup of almost 50 minutes building to 60 percent to 95 percent of maximal heart rate, then ending the warmup with all-out sprints.
The other group of cyclists warmed up for about 15 minutes, performed at a lower intensity, ending with a single sprint.
"What we found was that the shorter warmup resulted in significantly less muscle fatigue and a peak power output that was 6.2 percent higher -- a substantial improvement," Tomaras says in a statement.
"On the basis of this study I would suggest that sprint athletes should start thinking about adopting a shorter and less strenuous warmup for better performance."
The findings are published in the Journal of Applied Physiology.
