Clean Run - October 2010 - 12

Winning Warm-ups
By Diane Goodspeed and Petra Ford, PT, CCRT Photos by authors Every athlete, from professional golfer to amateur 5k runner, does a warm-up. A warm-up is essential for peak performance and injury prevention. Athletes warm up their muscles and loosen up their joints before every workout and every competition. For agility, Clean Run has several excellent articles that describe warm-up activities for both humans and dogs. But what exactly is an effective, proper warm-up? How should you put all the exercises together? When should you start your warm-up? What needs to change when the conditions are extreme?

Four Key Phases of an Effective Warm-up
There are the four key phases of an effective warm-up: 1. Loosening up 2. Active stretches 3. Anaerobic work 4. Bridging the gap Loosening Up Start with a 7-10 minute controlled leash walk. Keep the sniffing and pottying to the first few minutes and slowly increase the pace. By the end of the period, you should be at a brisk walk. This phase acts as a warm-up for both partners. Active Stretches An active stretch is done while moving. It helps elevate body temperature and puts muscles and joints through a functional range of motion. An active stretch allows your dog to regulate how far to push a muscle. If you place your dog into a passive stretch during a warm-up, there is serious risk of overstretching the muscle.

Warm-up Basics
First, let’s cover the basics. The main purpose of a warm-up is to prepare the body and mind for more strenuous activity. A proper warm-up increases the body’s core temperature while also increasing the body’s muscle temperature. By increasing muscle temperature, you’re helping to make the muscles loose, supple, and pliable. An effective warm-up also increases both heart rate and respiratory rate. This increases blood flow. All of this prepares the body for strenuous work, allows for full range of motion, and prevents injury. A good warm-up also produces faster, more forceful muscle contractions. The increased metabolic rate delivers oxygen to the working muscles more quickly, which allows for better muscle control by speeding up the neural message pathways to the muscles. And, a well-executed warm-up allows your dog to work comfortably for a longer time because all his energy systems are able to adjust to exercise, which reduces the buildup of lactic acid in the muscles. A proper warm-up does not tire the dog but rather ensures that the dog can give an optimal performance. A typical warm-up takes between 10-15 minutes and lasts about 10-20 minutes. Every warm-up starts with the large muscles (legs, shoulders, spine) and avoids strain on joints. The intensity of the work should increase slowly, then should narrow to the muscles that will be used in competition. For older dogs, the warm-up has to be more thorough.

Stretching
Stretches are used for different purposes. Active stretches warm up muscles and loosen joints for a full range of motion. Static stretches improve recovery after workout (such as a massage) and improve range of motion over time. Only active stretches are used in a warm-up. There are small receptors in the tendons that alert the body when a muscle is about to be overstretched. When a muscle has been stretched (which can happen during static stretching), the receptor “resets,” which can lead to decreased performance and injury. Static stretches should be performed after the trial or training session is over and after a proper cool down. This is the time when static stretches have the most benefit.

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October 10

Clean Run - October 2010

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