Effect of warm-up on run time to exhaustion

Abstract

It is not known whether warm-up protocols typically employed by athletes are beneficial to performance. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of warm-up on a perimaximal run to exhaustion, V ˙ O 2 kinetics, energy metabolism and running economy. Nine male distance runners ran to exhaustion at a speed corresponding to 105% maximal oxygen uptake ( V ˙ O 2 max ) after each of three different warm-up protocols: no warm-up (NW), jog warm-up (WM), or jog with strides (WH). Warm-up did not affect pre-run blood lactate concentration (BLC), BLC-increase (ΔBLC), net oxygen consumption, or running economy. WH increased the amplitude of the primary V ˙ O 2 response (mean (confidence intervals of difference); 4083 ml min −1 vs. 3763 ml min −1 (−638, −2)), with no change in the time constant; reduced the rate of BLC-increase (ΔBLC-rate) (0.02 mmol l −1 s −1 vs. 0.03 mmol l −1 s −1 (0.003, 0.01)); reduced anaerobic lactic power (109 W vs. 141 W (13, 51)); reduced the relative anaerobic lactic energy contribution (7.0% vs. 9.1% (0.8, 3.4)) compared to NW. The reduction in anaerobic power associated with ΔBLC-rate between NW and WH was significantly correlated with the increase in aerobic power associated with the primary amplitude ( r = 0.674, p < 0.05). Despite these theoretically beneficial metabolic effects, WH did not significantly increase time to exhaustion vs. NW (290 s vs.316 s (−77, 43)) but might be considered in events where the winning margin is often small.