Respiratory function during warm-up exercise in athletes.

ABSTRACT

The theme of the present study is to stress the importance of duration of warm-up exercise on respiratory functions in athletes. Significant improvements in athletic performance was achieved due to warm-up exercise owing to increase in blood flow, muscle and core temperature. The optimum intensity and duration are required to bring about the desired warm-up. A close examination on respiratory functions and its relationship with exercise has not been studied extensively. The present investigation is to explore the various respiratory functions in relation to the intensity and duration in preadolescent athletes before and after warm-up exercise. The results show a significant increase in vital capacity after 25 min and a significant reduction in FEV0.5, FEF75% and FEF25-75% after 45 min of warm-up exercise. The results suggest that a warm-up exercise of short duration (25 min) and mild intensity was beneficial than long duration (45 min) and intense exercise. Although the performance of athletes was not directly measured during exercise, these data demonstrate the benefit of warm-up.