Pay Attention to the Temperature
While elevating muscle temp can lead to improved performance, an increase in core temperature can degrade performance [9].
That’s why it makes sense to modify your warm-up by cutting back on how hard and how long your warm-up is whenever it’s especially hot out [10].
In the same way high temperatures should have you avoiding big increases in core temperature, cold temperatures should have you preserving increased muscle temperature as close to your start time as possible [11].
Here’s how you might modify your warm-up to go either way.
If it’s hot
- Keep your warm-up shorter, or cut it all together
- Reduce the intensity of your warm-up to minimize rise in core temp
- Warm-up in the shade, have extra water to pour/spray
- After warming up, sit in air-conditioned car avoiding direct sun
If it’s cold
- Bring the end of your warm-up closer to the start of your event
- Plan out a layering strategy that allows you to retain as much heat for as long as possible before the start of your event
- Increase the intensity of your warm-up
- Drink warm liquids
- After your warm-up, put on sweatpants to keep legs warm