I read with great interest the recent article by Williams et al. entitled, How Much Does the Warm-Up Contribute to the Soccer Match-Day Load?. The only other know study to examine this topic was published from my lab – Vescovi & Klas (2018): Accounting for the warm-up: describing the proportion of total session demands in women’s field hockey – Female Athletes in Motion (FAiM) study, Int J Perf Analysis Sport, DOI:10.1080/24748668.2018.1525980. The outcomes between these two studies were similar for total distance (21% vs. 26% of total distance performed during warm-up) but differed for sprint distance (27% vs. 6% of sprint distance performed during warm-up). Additional studies are needed to better understand the total demands experienced by athletes for an entire session, inclusive of the warm-up.
Jason, thank you for your comments. You raise a great question – what constitutes a proper warm-up in terms of volume, intensity, technique and mental focus. Also, coaches sometimes forget that warm up can be an important factor determining load for a match. We’ve also recently published a paper on extra-time periods in the college game. they add another ~20% to the days load (Science and Medicine in Football. 2019 Apr 28:1-6). In fact, combining warm-up, regulation and extra time,it is not uncommon for college females to approach 16 km of total distance (~10 miles).
I read with great interest the recent article by Williams et al. entitled, How Much Does the Warm-Up Contribute to the Soccer Match-Day Load?. The only other know study to examine this topic was published from my lab – Vescovi & Klas (2018): Accounting for the warm-up: describing the proportion of total session demands in women’s field hockey – Female Athletes in Motion (FAiM) study, Int J Perf Analysis Sport, DOI:10.1080/24748668.2018.1525980. The outcomes between these two studies were similar for total distance (21% vs. 26% of total distance performed during warm-up) but differed for sprint distance (27% vs. 6% of sprint distance performed during warm-up). Additional studies are needed to better understand the total demands experienced by athletes for an entire session, inclusive of the warm-up.
Dr. Jason D. Vescovi
Jason, thank you for your comments. You raise a great question – what constitutes a proper warm-up in terms of volume, intensity, technique and mental focus. Also, coaches sometimes forget that warm up can be an important factor determining load for a match. We’ve also recently published a paper on extra-time periods in the college game. they add another ~20% to the days load (Science and Medicine in Football. 2019 Apr 28:1-6). In fact, combining warm-up, regulation and extra time,it is not uncommon for college females to approach 16 km of total distance (~10 miles).