A Dynamic Warm Up for Football
Andy Lindegaard (Ex-Professional Footballer and Performance Director of DYMONDstrength LTD) outlines the benefits of a dynamic warm up and demonstrates some sample exercises to include in your pre-match routine.
Watch this!
Warm up routines – static or dynamic?
Pre- exercise warm up routines are common practice among sports teams and individuals. Despite the lack of scientific evidence supporting one protocol over another, coaches, trainers and athletes tend to demonstrate a warm up that reflect their own experiences (4).
Traditionally static warm up (SWU) exercises have been a prominent feature of warm up routines (1), however, increasing support and scientific evidence for dynamic warm up (DWU) has begun to outweigh this. It has been noted that SWU has actually degraded performance on vertical jumps, short sprints, tasks requiring maximal voluntary contractions, muscle strength-endurance performance, balance challenges and reaction time (2, 3, 4). Whilst a DWU has been noted to improve knee joint position sense, to increase oxygen uptake, to lower lactate concentration and raise blood pH, to improve efficiency of thermoregulation, and to improve performance for bicycle sprints and vertical jumps (4, 5).
Many variations on the dynamic warm up theme exist but most feature progressive, continuous movement. Here at DYMONDstrength Ltd we understand the physiological make up of our athletes’ bodies and take time to tailor a dynamic warm up that relates to each individual and their sport. The video above is just a snapshot of a section of a dynamic warm up that can be used for football; it focuses on minimizing time spent without a ball yet still focuses on the areas that are necessary to prepare for exercise. This video sees the use of trunk twists, side chops, squat drives and ball chops, all with a dynamic movement aiming to target the areas highlighted in research as vital for a safe and effective warm up.
References
1. Church, JB., Wiggins, MS., Moode, FM., and Crist, R. (2001) Effect of warm up and flexibility treatments on vertical jump performance. J Str Cond Res. 15:332-336.
2. Fletcher, IM., and Jones, B. The effect of different warm up stretch protocols on 20 metre sprint performance in trained Rugby Union players. (2004) J Str Cond Res. 18: 885-888.
3. Fowles, JR., Sale, DG., and MacDougall, JD. (2000) Reduced strength after passive stretch of the human plantar flexors. J Appl Physiol. 89:1179-1188.
4. McMillian, D., Moore, JH., Hatler, BS,. and Taylor, DC. (2006) Dynamic vs. Static-Stretching warm up: The effect on power and agility performance. J Str Cond Res. 20(3): 492-499.
5. Young, WB., and Behm, DG. Effects of running, static stretching and practice jumps on explosive force production and jumping performance. (2003) J Sports Med Phys Fitness. 43:21-27.
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