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I COACH...SO YOU DON'T HAVE TO
Why all the fuss over warming up?
By BILL PRICE
Executive Director
Saluki Swim Club
An athlete needs a certain amount of
warm up activity in order to prepare for optimum performance. While
the amount and intensity of warm up might vary from meet to meet there is no
getting around the fact that some athletes and many parents think their team warms up too much or too hard.
Because of this we have athletes who are
consistently late for meet warm up sessions either because they are sitting
up in the stands or hiding out in the locker rooms in the misguided belief
that if they let enough of the warm up period pass then they can join in
later and not be worn out for their events.
This is not really a good strategy
because a swimmer actually needs a full and proper warm up to fully realize
the benefits that can be derived from one. Missing the early portions so as
not to have to do "so much" means that the swimmer also misses the
preliminary, low intensity bits designed to build into the harder and faster
portions later on. Joining in after the warm up is underway not only
prevents a complete warm up but, by eliminating the preliminary portions and
joining in during the much more vigorous parts, exposes the athlete to
potential injury.
Additionally the notion that warming up
will somehow tire the athlete unduly and prevent him from performing at his
best once the meet begins is not supported by any scientific or empirical
evidence. In other words it's just plain wrong.
Our web archive has an
excellent article by former Saluki
coach Neil Romney that expands on the points noted above. I encourage
everyone to read it. |