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Why should one stretch before warming up?
Because without preparatory stretching the body will develop an oxygen debt within about 2-3 minutes (excess acid or lactate formation), which it then carries around like a rucksack for the entire training session. A result of this is an increased risk of injury. Even during the warm-up the body becomes over acidified for the first few minutes: more lactic acid (lactate) is formed than can be processed, the body becomes over-acidified and incurs a so-called oxygen debt. Thus, before doing any type of sport, even before warming-up, we should do stretching exercises to activate energy metabolism without consuming energy and causing metabolic acidosis.
Stretching before warming up reduces the risk of injury and improves subsequent performance. Many strain injuries can be prevented and treated by stretching before sport. Stretching is like yawning - it draws oxygen into the muscles.
- A person who starts to run at an endurance speed consumes energy that is stored in the muscles as CP (creatine phosphate). This is sufficient for a maximum of 15 seconds.
- If the energy supply = creatine phosphate (CP) were not to be regenerated, the runner would collapse exhausted to the ground after only these 15 seconds. Regeneration must take place very rapidly to begin with and to achieve this glucose is degraded anaerobically to form lactic acid = lactate.
- After 1-2 minutes, the body is already becoming acidic. At this point however energy production using oxygen kicks-in (aerobic) so that, after 2-3 minutes, glucose is being degraded to water (H2O) and carbon dioxide (CO2), i.e. compounds that do not further burden the organism.
Stretching exercises before any type of sports prevents excess acid formation!
Preparatory Stretching:
This serves as an immediate preparation for physical activity and requires that the extreme position for each exercise be maintained for at least 5 seconds. The stretching should, on the one hand be used to treat muscle shortening and the associated ligament complaints and, on the other, for the treatment and prevention of arthrosis and also the optimization of muscle function for the pressures of everyday life. When doing sport, stretching should be performed before and after every bodily exertion.
The best preparation for sport:
- Stretching of the major muscle groups (about 20 mins)
- Development of muscle tone and activation of the cardiovascular system, warming up, reaction gymnastics with after-damping and possibly rocking (about 5 mins)
- Sport-specific movement and coordination exercises (about 5 mins)
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