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,
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.
Continue reading...
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
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.
Continue reading...
