GRIDIRON WARM UPS: TO STRETCH OR NOT TO STRETCH?

Dan JolleyBSc (Ex Sci) MESSA

Owner, ProActive Personal Training

Strength & Conditioning Coach, WA Raiders

Head Strength & Conditioning Coach, Australian Outback

Over the years I have been involved in gridiron in WA I have seen a lot of different ways of warming up: the Saints did dozens of star jumps and push ups for many years, the Broncos offensive line would have a couple of Bundys, and on tour the 2006 Raiders used to smash the tripe out of each other in ‘the bullring’ before a game. Despite all these different methods of preparing for a game, there was one constant – every team and every player would do some static stretching before a game. But now the research has started to show that this might not be doing as much for us as we thought.

A static stretch is normally performed before a game to reduce the risk of injury. But this is having much less impact than previously thought. Most of the research from the last 20 years or so has generally found that there is no decreased risk of injury from a static stretch. That begs the question then of why do we stretch? Well, normally because our coaches tell us to. And they tell us to because when they played football, they used to stretch when their coaches told them to. What we now know means that we can use our time warming up more productively.

In fact, some of the most recent research is showing us that a dynamic warm up actually leads to better performance in power and agility activities than a static stretch. Not only are we wasting our time by stretching, we may even be reducing our ability to play at our best. Some studies have found a reduction in muscle strength and vertical jump height following a static stretch, while research released earlier this year showed the performance of the Illinois Agility Test was better after a dynamic warm up (although they also showed a static stretch did not decrease or improve performance).

Now before I move on to what we should be doing to warm up, there are a couple of instances when a static stretch will be useful. If you have a history of previous injury, poor muscle length, or a specific muscle imbalance, then a static stretch can increase the length of the muscle, but this is a very short term effect (only 2-3 hours), and a very specific effect. Stretching will certainly help to manage these existing issues, but needs to be done far more frequently than a couple of times a week before training and games to have any impact.

So what does an effective warm up involve? Raising your body temperature is the most important thing. When preparing teams to play as an S&C coach, I use a very slow jog around the field to start with. When the players return, we do some gentle range of motion exercises which involve the neck, shoulder, lower back, hips, and knee joints.

We then do some more specific movements: a series of walk throughs that involve moving each muscle through its full range of motion in a controlled manner – for example, pulling the knee to the chest stretches the origin of the hamstrings and the glutes, heel flicks lengthen the quadriceps, while carioca when done properly lengthens the adductor group and the muscles in the lower back. With each walk through the intensity and the pace gradually increase: lunges and plyometric jumps, followed by some starts from a two point or three point stance at near full pace.

At the end of an effective warm up the players should be puffing, and have worked up a light sweat. A similar, shorter warm up should also be done at half time or after extended periods on the bench, as body temperature will drop after 20 minutes or so of inactivity. Assuming the intensity of your warm up is increased in a controlled way, this is a safe and effective way to warm up.

References:

Floyd, A. (2009). Stretching – Valid Tool Or A Waste Of Time? Presented at WAFIC 2009, Perth Convention Centre.

Chaouchi, A., Castagna, C., Chtara, M., Brughelli, M., Turki, O., Galy, O., et al. (2010). Effect if Warm-Ups Involving Static Or Dynamic Stretching On Agility, Sprinting, And Jumping Performance In Trained Individuals. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 24(8), 2001-2011.

Khoransani, M.A., Sahebozamani, M., Tabrizi, K.G., and Yusof, A.B. (2010). Acute Effects of Different Stretching Methods On Illinois Agility Test In Soccer Players. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, in press.