It’s in our nature to want to do better and succeed. In sports, winning and losing are often separated by a tenth of a second, a successful score attempt in the dying stages of a game, or a split-second decision.
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Lecturer, Master of Exercise Science (Strength and Conditioning), Edith Cowan University
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Lecturer of Exercise and Sports Science, Edith Cowan University
There is always a need for legal strategies to increase performance. It’s a tool that attracts more and more interest from athletes.
It’s not only for elite athletes.
Not just a warm-up
There has been renewed interest in priming in recent years. Many sporting teams are already on the field, with more than half of the coaches using a performance enhancer to help their athletes.
A relatively brief bout of exercise is usually performed the day before or on the morning of a competition. Delayed potentiation is a result of this stimulation to the muscles. The muscles can perform better after a few hours of rest than they can without the exercise.
A warm-up is close to competition. The benefits of priming are more long-term than those of warm-up activations. It’s puzzling because we know that increases in muscle temperature, metabolism and the nervous system return to baseline levels in minutes.
Warm-ups are important but there is more to it than that Improvements in running, jumping, throwing and weightlifting ability have been reported. It is important when the difference between winning and losing can be measured in fractions of a percentage point. Muscular and hormonal changes have been suggested as possible causes of the priming effect.
It’s possible that other muscles benefit as well. People have known for a long time that exercise can improve performance. Recent research supports the idea that priming activities can help athletes.
Finding time to play, train and prime
Most of us are part time athletes. It’s difficult to find time to train and compete at a community or sub-elite level. The exercises can be done in a few minutes.
If you want to boost your performance later that day, you can do basic exercises like squats and bench presses with relatively heavy weights.
You don’t have a rack of weights? It is ok. A few short sprints or jumping is still a great way to increase athletic performance. Stronger people seem to recover quicker from exercise.
Ideally, pick an activity that uses the same muscle groups you will use during your sport, and do the primer exercise six to 33 hours before your event, as this seems to offer the most benefit and practicality. More isn’t better. You might be able to incorporate your session into your training regimen.
I don’t play sport – what’s in it for me?
It can help in the gym and with learning new skills if you practice priming.
The bench-press and squat performed better in the afternoon if they were used the same morning.
Aerobic exercise can improve reaction time, memory and attention. It has been shown that cyclists help musicians learn the piano. These changes take effect and last less time than those related to athletic performance.
What we still don’t know
There are still questions that need to be answered.
In sports such as rugby, football and basketball, could it be possible to use priming? These sports require multiple high-intensity efforts and dynamic decision-making to win.
More research is needed to figure out what is happening in the body and what exercises should be done when for the best results. We are studying the effect of different routines on muscular strength and power, as well as repeat sprint performance in strength athletes and football players.
There are protocols that provide strong stimulation, but don’t cause fatigue. The findings are expected to be useful for coaches and athletes.
The National Strength and Conditioning Foundation gives money to Christopher Latella.
Krissy received funding from the foundation.