The effects of various warming up intensities and durations during a short maximal anaerobic exercise

In the literature, few experiments deal with the study of warming up before short exercises. The present paper investigates the influence of different warming up procedures on a short maximal anaerobic exercise leading to exhaustion in 1 min or less. Performance, heart rate, oxygen consumption, and lactic acid level are measured. The performance is improved when light warming up (30% VO2 max) is used just before the criterion exercise, while it is impaired with a more strenuous warming up (70% VO2 max). After light warming up, heart rate and oxygen consumption are slightly higher during the criterion exercise as compared with the values without warming up. Warming up itself does not lead to an increase in lactic acid level. When a resting period is introduced between warming up and exercise, no modification occurs whatever the warming up intensity, and no important variation of the physiological measures are observed in this case.