title: Warm-Up Strategies for Sport and Exercise: Mechanisms and Applications.
abstract: It is widely accepted that warming-up prior to exercise is vital for the attainment of optimum performance. Both passive and active warm-up can evoke temperature, metabolic, neural and psychology-related effects, including increased anaerobic metabolism, elevated oxygen uptake kinetics and post-activation potentiation. Passive warm-up can increase body temperature without depleting energy substrate stores, as occurs during the physical activity associated with active warm-up. While the use of passive warm-up alone is not commonplace, the idea of utilizing passive warming techniques to maintain elevated core and muscle temperature throughout the transition phase (the period between completion of the warm-up and the start of the event) is gaining in popularity. Active warm-up induces greater metabolic changes, leading to increased preparedness for a subsequent exercise task. Until recently, only modest scientific evidence was available supporting the effectiveness of pre-competition warm-ups, with early studies often containing relatively few participants and focusing mostly on physiological rather than performance-related changes. External issues faced by athletes pre-competition, including access to equipment and the length of the transition/marshalling phase, have also frequently been overlooked. Consequently, warm-up strategies have continued to develop largely on a trial-and-error basis, utilizing coach and athlete experiences rather than scientific evidence. However, over the past decade or so, new research has emerged, providing greater insight into how and why warm-up influences subsequent performance. This review identifies potential physiological mechanisms underpinning warm-ups and how they can affect subsequent exercise performance, and provides recommendations for warm-up strategy design for specific individual and team sports.
authors.affiliation: Research Institute for Sport and Exercise, Faculty of Health, University of Canberra, Canberra, ACT, 2601, Australia. courtney.mcgowan@canberra.edu.au.|Discipline of Sport and Exercise Science, Faculty of Health, University of Canberra, Canberra, ACT, Australia. courtney.mcgowan@canberra.edu.au.
authors.forename: Courtney J
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: McGowan
authors.affiliation: Research Institute for Sport and Exercise, Faculty of Health, University of Canberra, Canberra, ACT, 2601, Australia.|Discipline of Physiology, Australian Institute of Sport, Canberra, ACT, Australia.
authors.forename: David B
authors.initials: DB
authors.lastname: Pyne
authors.affiliation: Research Institute for Sport and Exercise, Faculty of Health, University of Canberra, Canberra, ACT, 2601, Australia.|Discipline of Sport and Exercise Science, Faculty of Health, University of Canberra, Canberra, ACT, Australia.
authors.forename: Kevin G
authors.initials: KG
authors.lastname: Thompson
authors.affiliation: Research Institute for Sport and Exercise, Faculty of Health, University of Canberra, Canberra, ACT, 2601, Australia.|Discipline of Sport and Exercise Science, Faculty of Health, University of Canberra, Canberra, ACT, Australia.
authors.forename: Ben
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Rattray
mesh_terms: D000255:Adenosine Triphosphate / Q000378:metabolism; D054874:Athletic Performance / Q000502:physiology* / Q000523:psychology; D001831:Body Temperature; D004734:Energy Metabolism; D006801:Humans; D018485:Muscle Fibers, Skeletal / Q000502:physiology; D018482:Muscle, Skeletal / Q000378:metabolism; D010101:Oxygen Consumption; D013177:Sports / Q000502:physiology* / Q000523:psychology; D063996:Warm-Up Exercise / Q000502:physiology / Q000523:psychology
chemical_list: D000255:Adenosine Triphosphate