Ever wondered why players exercise or workout just before they are about to play their big match? Shouldn’t they save their energy and use it all against their opponent? Studies and experiments by experts have shown that pre-match warm up is very important for a sportsman and in fact for anyone who is about to even the basic exercises. 

 

A warm up consist of a combination of cardio workouts, stretching and some strength & conditioning drills. This helps in alleviating your heartbeat, with rise in body temperature and increased blood circulation and muscle movement, getting you prepared for your game.

 

In this Article Allsportspk will help you understand the importance of warming up before a match, workout or any other rigorous physical activity.

 

Importance of Body Warm-up:

 

1.      Muscle Temperature Increases:

When you warm up, your body temperature rises and so does the muscle temperature. As a result, the muscle contract and expand with more intensity and faster than usual. This helps the athlete’s performance by improving his overall speed and strength. According to the Journal of Strength Conditioning Research in 2010, performance levels of athletes increases up to 79% after a proper and correct warm up. Moreover, the athlete is less likely to pull or rupture a muscle during the game due to the proper pre-match warm up. For sports which does not require much movement, stretching throughout the game helps keep the body warmed up.

 

2.      Dilation of Blood Vessels and Rise in Blood Flow:
As you warm up, your blood vessels dilate allowing blood to flow through the vessels easily. This happens due to the rise in heartbeat. As you start exercising, your heartbeat increases, and the blood is pumped at a faster rate than usual. Dilation of vessels ensure that blood flows easily. Alongside this, the temperature of blood also increases as it travels through the body. The rise in blood temperature causes the bonding between the oxygen and hemoglobin to weaken making sure that oxygen is easily and readily available for consumption by the body and muscles.

3.    Mental Preparedness and Changes in Hormones:
During the warm-up, players are encouraged to mentally prepare themselves for the game. They do this by focusing on their game and analyzing their skills and strategy. Studies have shown that looking at positive images helps the athlete to relax and focus more.  Also, during warm ups, your body produces different kinds of hormones which are responsible for energy regulations of the body. The hormones do this by breaking down more carbohydrates and fatty acids for energy production.
 

4.     Increased Rate of Metabolism:

Warming up increases the metabolism rate of the body to optimum levels. The Increased metabolism helps the body to burn more fat thereby producing more energy. Since the breakdown of fats speeds up, you burn more calories and hence results in weight loss.

 

Is Cooling Down as Important as Warming up?

As we all know the importance of warming up before an event. Cooling down after a match or a workout is something we often ignore. But it is extremely important to make sure that your body gets back into normal state gradually and not suddenly.

 

To effectively cool down jogging followed by some light stretching helps the body relax and gradually return to normal state. It also helps the body get rid of unwanted products like lactic acid which cause soreness in the muscle.

 

Every sportsman should be well aware about the importance and need for a pre-match warm up. Ignorance to it can cause health issues and physical unfitness for a player which may lead to gradual decline of performance putting an end to the sports career much earlier than anticipated.

The published content is only for informational purposes, therefore, it should not be construed as a final health and fitness advice. Even if the content is correct the readers and/or users are advised to seek professional medical advice. Never ignore or delay a professional medical advice because of something you have read or seen.

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