Warm up - how long / how far?

bobtbuilder
bobtbuilder Posts: 1,537
edited November 2008 in Training, fitness and health
I am just wondering what amount of distance or time is judged to be the norm for a "warm up", and what factors would affect this.

I have noticed in the last couple of years that I seem to be taking longer before I feel properly "warmed up". I am "only" 36, so I sincerely hope it's not age related! :oops:

Comments

  • Bronzie
    Bronzie Posts: 4,927
    I guess it depends on how intense your ride is going to be - if it's an all-out race effort, I think you need to warmup for longer than a less intensive workout. I agree with you, that as the years tick by, I'm finding it's taking longer to feel like I'm properly warmed up.

    Typically for me, on a medium or low intensity ride, I'll warmup for 10 minutes or so by using small gears / high cadence to start with. For a race, I prefer to have 20-30 minutes warmup beforehand.
    It's a Lifestyle! -+-+- Coggan Training Levels
  • mclarent
    mclarent Posts: 784
    not scientific, but I have read something along the lines of warming up until your nearly sweating, i.e. raising your core temp sufficiently. I have also read, for TTs, the shorter the distance the longer the warm-up(!)

    I usually do 5 mins of "spinning", building it up, followed by 5 mins of low intensity for a training ride. The amount of time it takes before I feel "warm" tends to depend on where I am in my training program - it takes longer to loosen up after a hard session.
    "And the Lord said unto Cain, 'where is Abel thy brother?' And he said, 'I know not: I dropped him on the climb up to the motorway bridge'."
    - eccolafilosofiadelpedale
  • Alex_Simmons/RST
    Alex_Simmons/RST Posts: 4,161
    bobtbuilder wrote:
    I am just wondering what amount of distance or time is judged to be the norm for a "warm up", and what factors would affect this.

    I have noticed in the last couple of years that I seem to be taking longer before I feel properly "warmed up". I am "only" 36, so I sincerely hope it's not age related! :oops:
    Depends on a lot of things, mostly the nature of riding you are about to embark upon.
    5-min is usually enough just to get everthing working but as you note, it can take longer to "come good". If the session is to be a harder effort, like a tempo or threshold workout, then you might need up 15-min or so to prime yourself.

    Warm ups for races are a bit different and everyone has their own routine and preference.

    Here's an article on it:
    http://www.cyclecoach.com/index.php?opt ... Itemid=110
    RST Sport : Coaching - Training Plans - Powermeters -- My blog -- AeroCoach Australia
  • liversedge
    liversedge Posts: 1,003
    On a similar vein I find that it takes me a good 30 minutes before I start to feel "comfortable" especially at tempo power and heartrate.

    Almost always, I feel a lot more comfortable after the first hour of hearty riding. My warmup usually comprises doing up my helmet and clipping my feet in though!! :lol:
    --
    Obsessed is just a word elephants use to describe the dedicated. http://markliversedge.blogspot.com
  • James_London
    James_London Posts: 530
    15 -20 minutes at an easy pace and fairly high cadence is fine for a general purpose warm-up.

    Before hard efforts or racing I find I do best with anything up to an hour's warm-up however.

    If you have limited time, apparently 12 minutes with two one minute threshold efforts (the maximum pace you can sustain for an hour) is apparently effective. There was an article on this site I believe but unfortunately the miserable search function isn't locating it.
  • GyatsoLa
    GyatsoLa Posts: 667
    It doesn't answer your question exactly, but there is a very interesting article and video in the New York Times yesterday about warming up and stretching:

    http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/02/sport ... ref=health
  • ConsciousPilot
    ConsciousPilot Posts: 117
    GyatsoLa wrote:
    http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/02/sports/playmagazine/112pewarm.html?ref=health

    Interesting article. must try that next time at the gym :)
    2 Wheels or not 2 wheels..That is not in question.
  • liversedge
    liversedge Posts: 1,003
    John Cleese was years ahead of his time with the ministry of silly walks ... I finally got round to watching the vid and spat my tea on the monitor.

    I'm sure the science is sound and cutting edge, but you won't see me doing any of that prior to a club run !!!!!!!!!
    --
    Obsessed is just a word elephants use to describe the dedicated. http://markliversedge.blogspot.com
  • sicknote
    sicknote Posts: 901
    liversedge wrote:
    John Cleese was years ahead of his time with the ministry of silly walks ... I finally got round to watching the vid and spat my tea on the monitor.

    I'm sure the science is sound and cutting edge, but you won't see me doing any of that prior to a club run !!!!!!!!!

    If you read a good book on this type of stretching like this, you will see that its not new at all but people use to think that every thing all was no good :roll:

    There are some good videos on youtube too

    Very good book as I have the older version and it has helped me a lot, plus I so Karate.
  • GyatsoLa
    GyatsoLa Posts: 667
    As the trainer has an ozzie accent, when I first saw it the thought crossed my mind that he invented that crawl as a bet to see what was the silliest thing he could get Americans to do....
  • mhuk
    mhuk Posts: 327
    I second the Thomas Kurtz book: loads of different stretches to choose from and explains about passive and dynamic stretching and sport specific stretches (and my copy os an ancient 1st edition). No hamstring problems ever since reading the book and doing a few of the exercisesfirst thing everyday.
    Scott Scale
  • sicknote
    sicknote Posts: 901
    The Tom Kurtz book has a video to go with it if you need help getting stronger in the right places and is follow a long.

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