Passive heating following the prematch warm‐up in soccer: examining the time‐course of changes in muscle temperature and contractile function

This study examined changes in muscle temperature, electrically evoked muscle contractile properties, and voluntary power before and after a soccer specific active warm‐up and subsequent rest period. Ten amateur soccer players performed two experimental sessions that involved performance of a modified FIFA 11+ soccer specific warm‐up, followed by a 12.5‐min rest period where participants were required to wear either normal clothing or a passive electrical heating garment was applied to the upper thigh muscles. Assessments around the warm‐up and cool‐down included measures of maximal torque, rate of torque development, muscle temperature ( T m), and electrically evoked measures of quadriceps contractile function. T m was increased after the warm‐up by 3.2 ± 0.7°C ( P