• Question: What does warming up before sports actually do?

    Asked by conraddrgenisi to Gavin on 12 Mar 2012.
    • Photo: Gavin Devereux

      Gavin Devereux answered on 12 Mar 2012:

      A warmup can help move blood to certain parts of the body, where you have less during periods of rest. The most important (for exercise) are the muscles that require more blood to maintain physical activity.

      An example is the digestive system. When you’re at rest, blood needs to concentrate around the digestive organs to help with digestion of previously eaten foods. When you start to exercise, more blood needs to be sent to the active muscles, to fuel their activity. This situation is why you can feel a bit sick if you exercise too soon after eating a lot of food.

      Some researchers say that warming up isn’t actually necessary, but it likely depends on lots of things, and can get a bit complicated. So, it’s probably best to say a short warm up is best.

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