University of Calgary faculty of kinesiology researcher Elias Tomaras says the idea came to him while watching track and field sprinters warm up for a race. "If you watch sprinters, short-distance speed skaters, or cyclists before their race, they will often warm up for 1 to 2 hours, including several brief bouts of high-intensity exercise. From an exercise physiology point of view, it seemed like it might be pretty tiring."
"Our study compared a standard warm-up, with what we termed an experimental warm-up," Tomaras explains, "We interviewed a number of coaches and athletes to come up with the traditional warm-up."
he experiment involved high-performance sprint cyclists performing a traditional warm-up lasting about 50 minutes with a graduated intensity that ranged from 60% to 95% of maximal heart rate before ending with several all-out sprints. The experimental warm-up was much shorter at about 15 minutes, and was performed at a lower intensity, ending with just a single sprint. The researchers conducted a number of tests following each warm-up to accurately measure the athlete`s power output and fatigue.
"What we found was that the shorter warm-up resulted in significantly less muscle fatigue and a peak power output that was 6.2% higher. This represents a substantial improvement for an elite athlete," Tomaras said.