Whitehead, J. R., Moran, M. P., Guggenheimer, J. D., & Brinkert, R. H. (2012). The effects of static stretching warm-up versus dynamic warm-up on sprint swim performance. Presentation 994 at the 59th Annual Meeting of the American College of Sports Medicine, San Francisco, California; May 29-June 2, 2012.

This study examined the effects of a static-stretching warm-up versus a dynamic warm-up on sprint performance in Division I swimmers (M = 11; F = 5) who had recently completed their collegiate season. It was hypothesized that static stretching prior to a 50-meter sprint would prolong performance compared to that achieved with a dynamic warm-up. Ss swam a 50-meter freestyle sprint after two different warm-up protocols that were designed to mirror typical procedures while allowing any practically significant effects from the static-stretching and dynamic warm-ups to occur. In each case, the contrasting warm-up exercises (nine static stretches versus nine dynamic movements) were immediately followed by a typical swimming warm-up (~20-minutes). The two timed 50-meter sprints took place five minutes after the warm-ups were completed and they were conducted three days apart.

There were no significant differences between mean times in any of those comparisons for the first 25 m, the second 25 m, and the overall 50 m performance.

Implication. Static stretching and dynamic warm-ups have similar effects on sprint swimming performance. It is not known if the post-exercise swimming masked any effects of the two warm-ups.

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