Warming Up

[achilleus]

Every other sport I've ever played or watched, the participants warm up. They stretch, the run, they practice technique, etc... The more serious the competition, the longer the warm up. It's generally accepted, even in pick up games of basketball, that warming up is a good idea.

So what is it with fencers at local tournaments? Do they not know better? Do they just not care? I recently watched a local open, and qualifier, and people showed up put their stuff on and fenced.

Now, I'm aware that as people get older, the line between warmed up and worn out gets finer, but still this doesn't explain the all out disdain for warming up that I see at tournaments.

[Cipher]

I always warm up, whether it is for practice or a bout. I also give others around me a hard time if they don't, but there are still those that won't bother. You'd never see me on the strip prior to jogging/jump rope/foot work + some light stretching.

[Elemental]

I ususally show up, get dressed and wired up, and then warm up by fencing friend for a few minutes. This is the norm at most events I've been too. Occasionally I see someone running or using a jump rope but usually it's just fencing.

[D+F+P=Hadouken!]

I usually do light stretching for 2 minutes, jog for 5 minutes, heavy stretching for 15 minutes, jump rope for 5 minutes, then fence a couple 5 pointers.

[fixxmyweapon]

i know some people are just too lazy to warm up. "why exert that energy that you are going to really need in about an hour or so?" is something close to the thought process. hey, those arnt my muscles or my bouts that i'm potentially ruining.

[AndrewH]

Plus, if your muscles aren't sufficiently loose when you start fencing, you'll pay for it the next day. I know from much experience.

[acaba]

It kinda depends on the tournament for me. At Div II qualifiers I was one of the top seeds. My warm-up consisted of 2 or 3 lunges and then working on weapons. I mostly used the pool as my warm up. Only moved slowly, just enough to win.

When I go to NAC's, I make sure I'm there an hour before close of registration so I can run a lap around the venue, strentch for about 15 minutes, and warm-up by fencing w/ my team-mates and friends for another 15-20 minutes.

Open local tournaments fall somewhere inbetween.

For me, warm-up is both for getting my muscles ready for work, and getting my brain into the swing of things. For the first tournament, this could be done in the pools with no ill-effects. In a NAC I need every touch I can get, so I make sure I'm ready.

edit:
Achillleus,
I guess I fall into the 'more important=longer warm-up' category. I only do about 5-10 minutes of warm-up before practice too. But I start slow and easy and work up to more demanding actions. So while it may not look like warm-up, it turns out that way. I take that same attitude at some local competitions.

[daveappr]

As I've gotten older, I've found warming up prior to the start of the pool rounds to be more & more necessary. Mental prep is nice, but if I'm not loose, I really pay for it the next day. The threat of injuries also keeps me mindful of a proper warmup.

[mrbiggs]

My endurance is pretty poor. So usually, I get to the tournament, and spend a good half hour getting dressed and stretching. (I usually have time to kill because I'm one of the first ones there.)

One second, a trailer for Episode 3 just came on.

Okay, as I was saying, I usually stretch and get dressed. Then I fence for awhile. In foil, I just try to warm up. In epee, I need to get used to the weapon because I usually had already fenced foil in the tournament, so I often fence for as long as I can so I can be sure that I'm fencing correctly. Even then, it sometimes takes a pool bout or two before I'm fencing at my best.

[RebelFencer]

I usually jog for a couple minutes, stretching my arms as I do that. Then I run through my stretching routine for awhile. Then I drill footword, starting at basic and working up till I get a good sweat going. After that I gear up and find someone to fence warm ups with.

[fresfisher929]

Warming up is not only important to your muscles its also has a great impact on your mindset. A lot of people think great athletes are superstitious because they have certain rituals and ordeals that they go through before, during and after competition, all that is is getting their heads in the right place for competition. Once you get to a competition, you can't do anything about your physical fitness, you can't really learn any new moves, the only variable left is your head. A warm-up routine that you carry out the same way every time will increase your focus ten-fold, and improve your results.

Personally, i get to the venue, stretch lightly, jog till i'm loose, usually 5-10 minutes, stretch more, do windsprints, then get changed, do drills with a partner, then pick a couple bouts, by about that time my pool gets called.

i've found that it is what works for me, and when i go through it by the time i'm finished i'm warm and ready to exert myself and more importantly my head is in the right place and I'm ready to compete all day long.

[Katman]

I warm up. I strech and do some footwork then fence some bouts. I can't say what other people are doing at the tournaments I visit.

[ThatReallyHurt]

Ah, one of the advantages to being "hefty" - it doesn't take a lot of time to warm up.

I'll do a light jog for about 10 minutes, then climb stairs (if I can find them, if not I'll do some squats) for about 5 minutes, then do some stretching.
Between bouts at a tournament you'll always see me fidgeting and leaning from leg to leg and bending my knees a bit, I find I stay flexible a lot better than if I sit still between bouts.

I really need to warm up - if I don't warm up properly, I really can't move as quickly or as far... it's very noticeable.

[LUDICROUS]

I warn up for about 5-10 minutes, depending on a range of things. Then I fence. After fencing I'm just tired, not sore. Well, a bit sore for about 30 minutes, but yeah.

[Spike327]

I used to not warm up at all, but the collegiate circuit has gotten me into a more team-dependent mindset. I run briefly with the teammates, stretch pretty well with the teammates, and then do at least a few touches for warming up my point control and sense of distance.

[Teme]

A simple explanation may be that for an average fencer the peak performance is not that much above their normal activity of turning oxygen to carbondioxide for any warm-up to be needed.

I'm more for a tuning-up than warming-up. Knowing that high intensity warm-up actually is detrimental for the performance (and nowadays almost any warm-up is high intensity for me ) and that the progression of a fencing competition is rather arbitrary (a warm-up finished 10-15 minutes before a bout is practically useless since you've cooled down by then), I spend my time mostly loosening up my shoulders and legs, checking the movement ranges of my limbs and separately working out any kinks I find (like tight hamstring or 'heavy' ankles), while usually staring an empty piste going mentally trough a bout. Not neccessarily the tricks, traps and all that exotic stuff in my repertoire, but the very routine of a saber bout, to be 'awake' from the first get go.
Between bouts I keep on a quite low intensity leg movement (walking, small hops from feet to feet, shaking calfs and quadriceps, rotating ankles), just to keep 'tuned' and burn lactic acid.

[Inquartata]

I have fenced in tournaments from small local ones to Div I NACs. I have done extensive warmup-and-stretching routines, perfunctory warm-up routines, and sometimes I have done no warmup at all. It has not seemed to make any consistent difference to my performance. Some of the best fencing I've ever done has come when simply walking onto the strip in the pool totally unprepared. Some of it has come after jogging or running stairs, followed by lengthy stretching, followed by warmup practice bouting. Some of the worst days I've had have likewise come after not warming up at all, and after diligently warming up. Neither has had a monopoly on times I've sustained injuries, either.

In my experience, it simply does not matter that much to me. Hence I do not worry about it over much. If I get the time to warm up, great. If not, so be it.

[Mr Epee]

Originally Posted by achilleus

Every other sport I've ever played or watched, the participants warm up.

Snip....

So what is it with fencers at local tournaments?

To be honest I see this as a training issue.

The main problem is that a large number of fencers are people who have little, or no, prior athletic training experience. Which is fine, but at that point it becomes a coach's responsibilty to teach their athlete correct behavior (for training and competition).

Most fencing coaches simply do not understand proper training, or are too lazy to take time to teach it.

A few months back I had a youth team at an RYC event. It was the first non-club competition for most of the team. I was involved with a coaches/referee meeting, and when I got done I found our team half-way through their warm-up/stretching exercises.

Had I asked them to go through it?

No.

But, it we do it at the beginning of every single training session, so for them it's what you do before you start fencing. (I was so proud).

[acaba]

Originally Posted by Teme

A simple explanation may be that for an average fencer the peak performance is not that much above their normal activity of turning oxygen to carbondioxide for any warm-up to be needed.

I think this is a good point. There are not a lot of 'athletes' at the local competitions. Most of the fencers I know started in a loosely run college club environment that only had sporadic coaching at best. Add to that the fact that most of the 'athletes' had been funnled into the main stream sports by then, and you get a group of untrained non-athletes fencing. Since they don't know, and have not been taught how to warm up, they don't. I know that you can tell peple to warm-up, but unless you take the time to show them they will not know what to do.

Looking at the results from my division, the top fencers are those who either train hard and have a coach, or did so at some time in the past. Most of the rest of the fencers are at a distinct disadvantage of not having the instruction or athletic ability to draw upon. They come from small clubs that are mostly self taught. I think that they are doing the best with what they have.

[Insipiens]

In the UK, most people do warm up at Open competitions. However, you can often end up warming up, being ready to fence, then due to a delay in the running of the competition you have to wait for an hour before your poule starts.