Abstract

Background: A normal untrained individual remains perplexed about which warm-up one should perform to get the maximum benefits. Aim of present study was- which warm-up has better effect on exercise in untrained individuals. Parameters- Aerobic capacity and time taken to complete exercise were considered. Method: It is a cross-sectional study conducted at GCS Medical College, Ahmedabad during the January 2015 with the permission of ethical committee of Institute and after written informed consent 30 (out of total 61) apparently healthy untrained medical students were randomly enrolled after exclusion. They were called at regular interval to perform Rockport Fitness Walking Test (RFWT) to calculate aerobic capacity by 3 steps: - 1st control exercise without warm up, 2nd RFWT following dynamic stretching and 3rd RFWT following static stretching. Parameters recorded were incorporated in RFWT formula to calculate aerobic capacity Results: Subjects took significantly less time (14.45± 1.45 minutes, p < 0.05) to complete step 2 than step 1 control. But none showed any significant improvement in aerobic capacity. Conclusions: Dynamic stretching decreases time taken to complete exercise hence should be preferred for activities requiring more speed.

Authors and Affiliations