General

The warm-up is an essential prerequisite for all training, on the physical, physiological and psychological levels. As its name suggests, it has a dual effect:

- to raise body temperature through progressive and adapted exercises, to increase heart rate and blood circulation, to ventilate the lungs for proper oxygenation of the cells, in short to "take off" from the state of homeostasis proper to any organism at rest,

- to prepare, in a more focused way, the body for the particular efforts that will be required of it during specific parts of the training session.

The warm-up is usually carried out at the beginning of the training session, of which it is then an integral part. Sometimes, for scheduling reasons, a warm-up can be carried out in anticipation of an effort to be made during the day, for example. In this case, however, it will still be necessary to return to step one, as the body has naturally returned to a state of homeostasis.

Components of a warm-up

- running and jumping: are particularly suited to raising temperature and blood flow in tendon and muscle tissue. A 10-minute jog in aerobic mode (at 60% of maximum capacity) is also excellent,

- stretching: focusing in series on agonist and antagonist muscle groups, contributes to good muscle performance and tone, and produces a good warm-up by gliding fibers and fascia. Here, we recommend active, slow, then dynamic stretching, without seeking to gain amplitude,

- specific movements: depending on the theme of the session (or the program in progress), we'll perform movements of a nature to prepare for the techniques envisaged, both on a muscular and dynamic level,

- concentration: although this aspect does not a priori have a direct effect on the bio-motor warm-up, it is nonetheless a preparation for the visualization and attention required during the session.