title: Combination of general and specific warm-ups improves leg-press one repetition maximum compared with specific warm-up in trained individuals.
abstract: Accurate assessment of muscular strength is critical for exercise prescription and functional evaluation. The warm-up protocol may affect the precision of the 1 repetition maximum (1RM) test. Testing guidelines recommend performing both general and specific warm-ups before strength tests. The general warm-up intends to raise muscle temperature, whereas the specific warm-up aims to increase neuromuscular activation. Although there is scientific evidence for performing the specific warm-up, the effects of general warm-up on strength tests are still unclear. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether the combination of a general with a specific warm-up (G + SWU) protocol would improve leg press 1RM values compared with a specific warm-up (SWU) protocol. Thirteen participants were tested for leg-press 1RM under 2 warm-up conditions. In the first condition, participants performed the SWU only, which was composed of 1 set of 8 repetitions at approximately 50% of the estimated 1RM followed by another set of 3 repetitions at 70% of the estimated 1RM. In the second condition (G + SWU), participants performed the 1RM test after a 20-minute general warm-up on a stationary bicycle at 60% of HRmax and the same specific warm-up as in the SWU. Values of 1RM in SWU and in G + SWU were compared by a paired t-test, and significance level was set at p ≤ 0.05. Strength values were on average 8.4% (p = 0.002) higher in the G + SWU compared with the SWU. These results suggest that the G + SWU induced temperature-dependent neuromuscular adjustments that increased muscle force production capacity. Therefore, these results support the recommendations of the testing guidelines to perform a moderate intensity general warm-up in addition to the specific warm-up before maximum strength assessments.
authors.affiliation: Bandeirantes University of São Paulo (UNIBAN), São Paulo, Brazil.
authors.forename: Cesar C C
authors.initials: CC
authors.lastname: Abad
authors.forename: Marcos L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Prado
authors.forename: Carlos
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Ugrinowitsch
authors.forename: Valmor
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Tricoli
authors.forename: Renato
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Barroso
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D015444:Exercise / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D007866:Leg / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D053580:Muscle Strength / Q000502:physiology*; D018482:Muscle, Skeletal / Q000502:physiology; D055070:Resistance Training; D014891:Weight Lifting / Q000502:physiology*; D055815:Young Adult