Warming up - How much time do you spend on it?

[CoogansBluff]

How much time do you spend in a 1.5-hour or 2-hour practice for warmups/stretching?
How important is it for younger age groups like 12U and below? Is it overrated? Underrated? If your team practiced 2x/week (not every day like a high school team), how much time would you spend?

 

[tguwarrior]

Not much, and it's never the standard "Right leg 1,2,3,4,5,6. Left leg. 1,2,3,4,5,6." I have them play tag, play soccer, run races, stuff like that. They really like this one, I'll have them hop on one leg and try to knock each other off balance and make the other foot touch. If both feet hit the ground you're out. They can switch legs they just have to do it quickly. Run through that 2 or 3 times, they will be "warm." Sometimes I have them jog a lap or 2 real light and I'll randomly yell stuff like skip, forward rolls, shuffle in, shuffle out, forward lunges, cartwheel left, cartwheel right, SPRINT! while they are doing it. That works out pretty good as well.

 

[sluggers]

Whether a bunch of 12YOA kids "need" to warm up for injury prevention is irrelevant. You are there to teach the kids how to play sports generally, and softball specifically. How to warm up is mandatory course material.

E.g., do you teach them how to turn a 6-4-3 double play? Of course...even though the odds of your team turning one during the season are about 1000 to 1. The same with warming up. You should team them the correct way to warm up so they develop good habits for when they get older.

You teach them what you want them to do, then you put the team captains in charge of the warm up, and then as they warm up, you get everything set up for the practice.

 

[CoogansBluff]

Whether a bunch of 12YOA kids "need" to warm up for injury prevention is irrelevant. You are there to teach the kids how to play sports generally, and softball specifically. How to warm up is mandatory course material.

E.g., do you teach them how to turn a 6-4-3 double play? Of course...even though the odds of your team turning one during the season are about 1000 to 1. The same with warming up. You should team them the correct way to warm up so they develop good habits for when they get older.

You teach them what you want them to do, then you put the team captains in charge of the warm up, and then as they warm up, you get everything set up for the practice.

Thanks. sluggers. ... But how much time do you spend on warmups (not throwing, but the act of getting loose and stretched) before practices and/or games? 5 minutes, 10 minutes, 15 minutes?

 

[Chris O'Leary]

How much time do you spend in a 1.5-hour or 2-hour practice for warmups/stretching?
How important is it for younger age groups like 12U and below? Is it overrated? Underrated? If your team practiced 2x/week (not every day like a high school team), how much time would you spend?

Static stretching is a waste of time, if not ineffective and even counterproductive.

5 to 10 minutes of progressive long toss, and maybe some jumping jacks or something else that gets the legs moving, is enough to get the blood flowing, which is all you need.

 

[CoogansBluff]

Static stretching is a waste of time, if not ineffective and even counterproductive.

5 to 10 minutes of progressive long toss, and maybe some jumping jacks or something else that gets the legs moving, is enough to get the blood flowing, which is all you need.

What about dynamic stretching? ... Or is stretching of any sort overrated?

I definitely believe that warming up muscles is critical. Not sure that having stretched muscles is critical. But I'm open-minded and want to hear what good coaches think.

 

[Chris O'Leary]

What about dynamic stretching? ... Or is stretching of any sort overrated?

I definitely believe that warming up muscles is critical. Not sure that having stretched muscles is critical. But I'm open-minded and want to hear what good coaches think.

Jumping jacks ARE dynamic stretching.

Of course, the word "stretching" isn't really accurate; it's just a hold-over to placate people who grew up thinking static stretching is important.

What matters is the dynamic part (e.g. moving around and getting the blood flowing).

Static stretching will at least decrease the power output of muscles and can destabilize joints. Static stretching also does nothing to reduce Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness.

 

[Country Boy]

We have the exact same warmup (stretching) before practice that we do before a game. We spend about 10 minutes doing a series of dynamic warmups that I learned from Marc D's videos. I want to make that so much a part of their softball routine that they don't even need to think about it.

Psychologically, it also keeps practice day the same as game day. I feel it helps keep the players calm if they are doing the same routine things they do in practice. I don't want my players amped up 60 min before game time. Too early and too much energy expended.

Not on subject, but I have changed our warmup throwing some this year. Our team had always done the "Get a partner and throw." I realized mid way through last year, that our distance was usually about 40'. Now there are only about 3-4 plays in a game that are that short. So now we do those throws, but then we also back up and really throw from about 60-80' also. Not a lot of throws but enough. Again, trying to simulate what they will be seeing in the game.

 

[coachtucc]

My 12U girls do dynamic stretching...when they 1st start they take a long time because you have to teach it...but now they have it down to 10 min then they throw progressively for 10 min or so

 

[oldcop]

Warm ups are very important, but I think it depends on the weather conditions if cold it may take a little longer. I personally like the dynamic stretching. I just like them to warm up enough they are breaking a sweat that way you know the body is warm