Just got back from the Greensboro meet and it brought back memories from previous Nationals. With so many swimmers attempting to warm-up in a fairly restricted area how do you do it? Are there any good dry land warm-up exercises that can simulate the pool action. I know this will be a problem at the nationals and am looking for some good advice.
Former Member
I just dont warm up more than maybe a lap but then again I don't have cardio to swim more than a 50 anyway. However, I think there will be much more research coming out on how people warm up way too much in the first place. In just about all sports not just swimming.
That is an interesting study but I think it is a bit flawed. They only had 3 minutes between warmup and the time trial. The short warmup was 50y at 40% and then 50y at 90%. 3 minutes after a 90% swim I don't think is enough time to fully recover. That is probably why the short warmup was slower than the normal warmup and even slightly slower than no warmup at all. The study does still prove that a normal warmup is better than no warmup.
I think people confuse 'feeling better' with 'performing better' If I had to guess, what element of warm up that hurts the most is higher intensity in warm up which utilizes large muscles which wear out very quickly. Then again, this is just my theory not based on much other than physiologically it doesn't make much sense that warmup or any activity which burns through fast immediately available energy sources, spends muscle energy, etc. etc. is beneficial to performing optimally.
