I apologise for leaving readers hanging after my post about warming up posted more than 4 weeks ago but there has been some football to watch and comment on (Euro 2012) with games on TV for the last 11 nights.
In addition, both my wife and son have suffered injuries incurred while horse riding and although their injuries weren't serious, my wife is still experiencing some discomfort after nearly two weeks. It caused a bit of disruption to our usual routine as you can imagine.
So hopefully you haven't all been training and then suffering from DOMS (Delayed Onset of Muscle Soreness) for want of an effective warm down! My warm down is intended to ease your muscles back towards a rested state as well as trying to drive any lactic acid (which causes cramp) out of the legs. Again I need to point out that I am not a qualified training instructor nor medial expert but the warm down I use has been borrowed from people who have had access to qualified personnel.
The first thing to do is to let your pulse drop down to around 67% of maximum (220bpm- age) and then
- begin jogging for 30 seconds
- walk for 25 seconds
- jog for 25 seconds
- walk for 20 seconds
- jog for 20 seconds
- walk for 15 seconds
- jog for 15 seconds
- walk for 10 seconds
- jog for 10 seconds
- walk for 10 seconds
This sort of routine should allow you to complete at least one circuit of a standard size football field. It is now time to begin re-aligning the muscle fibres by stretching them out and encouraging the muscles to initiate the repair process that strengthens them.
Each one of these stretches should be held for between 20-30 seconds. The first stretch is to stretch the Achilles tendon. This is achieved by placing one knee on the ground and lining up the heel of the other foot (with the foot flat on the floor alongside the knee), keeping the upper body upright before leaning the weight of the body slightly forward and holding. It is important not to rock backwards and forwards, but just to hold the position. It's also important that the movement forward is done slowly and in a controlled manner. When moving back to the start position, this also needs to be done slowly and in a controlled manner. It's then time to swap Achilles and repeat the exercise on the foot which was previously flat on the floor.
The next stretch is intended to stretch out the calf muscles and the tendons which run up inside the calf (Soleus tendon) which have caused me problems over the last 5 years. The start position involves bending at the waist, placing both hands on the ground, shoulder width apart and moving the feet back until your body makes a wide, inverted V shape and gently push the heel of one foot down to the ground so that the calf stretches and hold as above. Ease up that foot and swap to the other foot, going through the same gradual push down with the heel and hold. Take care also to stand up slowly in case you experience a rush of blood to the head which makes you dizzy!
Moving up the leg, it's time to stretch out the front of the thigh. This is achieved by flicking one leg up behind you and pulling the foot close into the crease of your backside. The quality of this stretch depends on being able to keep both thighs aligned and the knees together. Hold that position for around 25 seconds before slowly releasing the foot and swapping legs. Often you can be wobbling around so it helps either to rest your free hand on a training partner's shoulder or to hold on to a goalpost.
It's now time to stretch off the hamstrings. This is achieved by standing with both feet together before stepping forward a half pace and gradually sitting down, while keeping the outstretched leg straight. You can steady your balance by placing your hands just above the outstretched knee but beware pressing down as this places pressure on the knee joint which can cause injury. Slowly return to an upright position and then repeat with the other leg.
The penultimate exercise for the legs is to stretch out the groin area. If you stand upright with your feet a little wider than shoulder width apart and lean out over one of the knees so the weight is transferred on to one foot. After holding for around 25 seconds slowly lean to the other side and transfer your weight over the other foot, holding for 25 seconds and then returning to an upright position.
The final stretch is to stretch out the hip flexor which is the area that runs down across the front of the hip bone and down the front of the thigh. To stretch this area, adopt a similar position to the first exercise but move the foot flat against the floor forward, so the back of the heel is 15cm further forward than the front of the knee, while keeping the upper body upright, before pushing forward slightly with the hips. This position should be held for 25 seconds before being repeated with the other hip.
And that is it. You are warmed down and your main muscle groups are stretched off to reduce the possibility of you hurting 36 hours after your work-out!
This is not an accurate description of the British weather as we move into Day Two of a 4 day weekend to commemorate the Golden Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II, who is a matter of months away from being declared the longest reigning monarch in British history. It is intended to describe the warm up I have developed over the last 4 years or so of training for refereeing games at my level. The comments below are not an expert view but they have been gleaned from working with others who have benefited from professional fitness coaching
Regular readers will know that I trained hard a few years ago, in an attempt to pass the FA's fitness test so I could be considered for assessment and perhaps recommendation to officiate at Level 4. Unfortunately 10 years of playing rugby (union and league) at a reasonable level, 15 years of sitting around on my backside doing no physical activity at all, apart from walking to and from the car parked up at work, meant my body was in no fit state for the rigours of training 3 times a week and being involved in up to 3 games a week as well. I suffered recurring injuries and eventually gave up refereeing for a couple of years. Since then I have decided to take up the whistle once more, but limit my ambitions to making sure I do the best I can on Sunday mornings in the local league.
So on to the warm up. The important thing to remember is that it is just that - a warm-up. It is intended to wake up your muscles, raise your pulse so that your heart becomes gradually ready for the exertions of the main session and increase your respiration rate so your lungs are ready to feed your muscles with the energy they need. Therefore we need to start off gently with a jog ...
The jog should last around 5-6 minutes. During this time you should be able to carry out a conversation with any running partner you may have, you shouldn't be experiencing any muscle pain and your pulse should remain at or below 75% of maximum. Your maximum heart rate is generally calculated as 220 minus your age, so in my case 172, but soon to be 171. To find out your pulse you will need to invest in a heart rate monitor.
Personally I wear a Polar RS400 which lets me download date which I can analyse. It is quite expensive (10 match fees at my level). There are less expensive models available but these may not provide the same level of detail as the RS400, nevertheless they will let you track your pulse to check how hard you are working.
Once your jog is completed, allow your pulse to drop to around 66% of maximum and then start on some shuttles. You'll notice I haven't mentioned any stretching of any kind and that's because stretching does not warm up the muscles, it actually tightens the muscle which can lead to damage and lower levels of performance during your exercise.
With your pulse at 66% of maximum, it's time to begin doing some work designed to warm up specific muscle groups in your legs. Below I refer to markings on the football field as I believe you should train in the arena in which you will be putting your fitness to work - the field. If you train by running pavements or at an athletics track, then you will need to gauge your own markings to help you with distances.
Starting at the goal line, jogging out to the edge of the penalty area parallel to the goal line (this is your turn around point) and running continuously,
- Jog out, turn around and jog back to your start point
- Jog out but instead of turning around and jogging back, run backwards to your start point
- Jog out but on the return to your start point, "crab" back to your start point while facing the nearest touchline, stepping out to the side with your right foot, bringing your left foot alongside your right foot
- Repeat #3 but this time step out with your left foot first and face the furthest touchline
- Jog out but on the return to your start point, run while bringing your knees up until they are level with your waist
- Jog out but on the return to your start point, kick your heels up so that they strike your backside (or your hands behind your back)
- Jog out but on the return to your start point, take two long strides slightly to the right, take two long strides to the left and repeat this "two to the right, two to the left", zig-zag pattern until you return to your start point
- If you are feeling confident, you can repeat this exercise but instead of moving forwards while doing the "two to the right, two to the left" you can move backwards (but I always skip this one for fear of falling over!)
- Jog out but on the return to your start point, lift your right knee to the side of your body, keeping it level with your waist, swing it around until it is in front of your body and then lower it, take two small steps and repeat the exercise with your left knee
- Jog out but on the return to your start point, lift your right knee to the front of your body, keeping it level with your waist, swing it around until it is to the side of your body and then lower it, take two small steps and repeat the exercise with your left knee
- Jog out but on the return to your start point, skip back to the start point
- Jog out but on the return to your start point, stand still, place your right foot out in front of you by around 15cm, bend your left leg and with a sweeping motion similar to the advantage arm signal, slowly and steadily sweep down whiole bending at the waist, through and up so that you stretch your hamstring. Repeat this exercise with the left foot out in front of you and bending the right leg before doing the sweeping motion
- Finish by jogging out to your start point before turning around and walking back to your start point
If you do this part of the warm up routine in full and keep your heart rate below 75% of maximum, then it should take around 8-10 minutes meaning your total warm up will take between 13-16 minutes, which is slightly long (and can be shortened a little as your fitness improves), but is a good investment if you are just beginning to work on your fitness, are returning from injury or haven't trained for a while.
Next time I'll be covering the warm down, which is just as important as the warm up and can help reduce the post exercise aches as well as reducing or eliminating the Delayed Onset of Muscle Soreness (DOMS), that horrible feeling of not being too bad the day after some exercise but being in agony on the 2nd day.
