Coaches Exercise Tip #22 – Adding resistance exercise to warm-up increases performance
We have discussed the importance of dynamic stretching vs static stretching as a warm-up protocol in the past and we have incorporated this knowledge into our warm-up procedures daily at Synergy. We modify our warmup every few months and the most recent variation ended with gym width sprints – this was used in as an effort to recruit more fast twitch muscle fibers and better prepare the lower body for the loads and power demanded of it in the workout to follow. One of the later additions to the warm-up was jump squats this was included due to research done in the United Kingdom at Manchester Metropolitan University.
The group from Manchester investigated the use of light resistance exercise in a dynamic warm-up protocol and found that it improved performance over the basic dynamic warm-up and a static warm-up. Researchers looked at 3 different warm-up protocols – 10 minutes of static stretching, dynamic stretching, or dynamic stretching followed by 8 front squats with 20% body mass. Researchers tested the warm-up protocols on 10 and 20m sprint tests as well as a vertical jump test immediately after the warm-up and at 3 and 6 minutes post warm-up. The finders were as follows;
Vertical jump performance was improved after the dynamic warm-up with front squats vs. the static and dynamic warm-ups at both 3 and 6 min.
Sprint performance was improved after both dynamic stretch routines relative to the static stretch routine immediately, and at 3, and 6 minutes.
The take home message is this – dynamic stretch routines pre-workout are far superior to any static routines and additional resistance exercise added to a warm-up may also improve power development and jump performance.
The addition of loaded exercise may not always be an option in many environments due to lack of equipment, time , and simple logistics. At Synergy we have the equipment, but not the time to load bars for every class attendee to perform front squats, so we have improvised slightly by using the body weight jump squat in place of additional loaded front squats. This adds a larger dynamic component and a larger ground reaction force due to the jumping. We will experiment with this until the next warm-up protocol is created. So if you were wondering why jump squats? Now you know.
