Warm Ups for Short sharp Anaerobic Events
Question:
Asked by steamingbill - 2 answers - 27 weeks 1 day ago
Warm Ups for Short sharp Anaerobic Events
Hello,
Recently I did a 500m SB on a rowing machine - because it was only 500m it was all over in 1min:45sec and HR didnt get very high -
Because this would have been mostly anaerobic does it really matter if HR didnt get very high ? By definition, the chemical reactions to suppply the required energy in the anaerobic systems shouldnt need a lot of oxygen.
Or in other words - should I have done a much more intense warmup - and maybe tire nyself - in order to start the 500m with an elevated HR, is it likely that I could have done better if I had finished the piece at max HR ?
I dont see Olympic track athletes warming up prior to their sprints on the events shown on television - but I have seen cyclists warming up on rollers.
Do olympic athletes achieve high Heart Rates at the end of relatively short sprints ie 100m 200m 400m 1000m ? Do these athletes heart rates accelerate from 70bpm at the standing start to high heart rates after a very short time ?
WHenever I look at my HR graphs I see that it usually takes a while for my HR to stabilise for a given pace - the rise in HR is like an upsidedown letter J with a flat line on top, so this makes me think that particularly for shorter pieces the HR will always lag behind the demand being placed on it.
Can anybody help me to better understand this ?
Thanks
Bill
You have worked it out yourself - Heart rate lags - and your monitor will only pick up every so often so can miss it hitting max. So for Anaerobic efforts (whether on there own or as intervals) measuring heart rate doesn't really work. Assuming measuring Power is not an option, simply do it by 'perceived exertion'. Read up on this loads of articles.
Your original question of warm ups for short activities, base the warm up around the activity you are doing. If you are doing 500m sprint on a rowing machine, after a short general warmup of say 5 minutes on a treadmill walk to slow jog (with good strong arm swings), then spend 5-10 minutes rowing slowly but with full movement so you warm up the correct muscles. Then have a drink and go for a PB