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Importance of the Warm Up

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Warming your body up is an essential part of pre-match preparation and training.

Thought — The first minute is as important as the ninetieth minute. Warming up will:

Gradually increase your heart rate
Increase the flexibility of your muscles, tendons and ligaments
Improve speed
Promote faster reactions
Increase range of movement
Reduce risk of injury

There are three phases to warming up.

The warm up should begin with exercises involving your whole body, and should last for about 5—10 minutes, depending on the temperature. The aim of this phase is to:

Raise the temperature of your body
Raise the temperature of your muscles
Increase the amount of blood flowing to your muscles

Start off with light jogging (e.g. 2 or 3 slow laps of the pitch) and include some skipping, backwards and sideways running and some arm circling to warm your upper body.

Tip — You should be sweating lightly at the end of this phase and your pulse rate should have risen to about 120 beats per minute before moving onto the next phase.

You should stretch those parts of your body that will be used during your match or training session.

Advice — Hold each stretch for 10 seconds at the point of slight discomfort — relax —then repeat 2 or 3 times.

Warning — Never stretch cold muscles. DON’T BOUNCE.

Include the following stretches in your warm up.

(i) Achilles Stretch

Stand with one leg forward of the other, feet pointing forwards, back heel on the ground with the back leg slightly bent.

Keeping your back straight and your back heel on the ground - sit back until you can feel a stretch low down near your Achilles tendon.

(ii) Calf Stretch

Stand with one leg forward of the other - slightly more than in the previous exercise - feet pointing forwards, back heel on the ground and the back leg straight.

Keeping your back straight and your back heel on the ground — bend your front knee and move your weight forward and down until you can feel the stretch on the back of your calf.

(iii) Quadriceps Stretch (front of thigh)

Hold your foot with your hand and lift your foot up behind your buttock. Pull the foot back and away from the buttocks and push the knee towards the ground.

Use a wall or a partner if balance is a problem.

(iv) Hamstring Stretch (back of thigh)

Stand with one leg forward of the other, feet pointing forwards. Push the hips back, bend your back leg slightly to support your weight, hands on supporting knee, then straighten your front leg. Increase the stretch by pushing your hips back and down.

For a further stretch pull your toes up.

Alternatively - you can sit down with your legs straight and grasp your toes and pull them towards you. Both these stretches are a far safer alternative to the touch your toes’ stretch.

Warning - Stretches which involve dropping down to touch the toes are not recommended.

(v) Groin Stretch

Stand with your feet about 1 metre apart. Keeping your right leg straight, bend your left knee and lean your upper body towards the outstretched leg until you feel the stretch on the inside of your right thigh.

(vi) Side Stretch

Stand with your feet wide apart and your hands down by your sides.

Lean to one side, reaching down with the hand to the knee.

For an extra stretch bring the other arm over the top of the head.

Warning - Do not bend forward or backward during this stretch and don’t overstretch.

Source:

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