Examining warm‐up decrement as a function of interpolated open and closed motor tasks: Implications for practice strategies

Abstract

Warm‐up decrement (WUD) is a loss in the level of physical performance following rest and prior to subsequent trials. The activity‐set hypothesis is one of several explanations for this phenomenon. The purposes of this study were to field test the efficacy of the activity‐set hypothesis and explore the effectiveness of performing closed and open interpolated tasks in reducing WUD. The criterion task was hitting tennis ground strokes in response to a ball tossing machine, an open skill. Elite players (n = 20) from a tennis club in New South Wales, Australia, practised either a closed or open task, or rested, prior to resuming the first post‐rest trial, using a repeated‐measures design. The results yielded partial support of the activity‐set hypothesis. Although the closed interpolated task markedly reduced WUD, open skill practice solicited better post‐rest performance. Warm‐up decrement was clearly evident under the rest condition. Futhermore, post‐rest scores were statistically superior for the open skill condition as compared to practising a closed interpolated task, at least for the first two post‐rest trials (trials 21 and 22). The implications for these results in reducing WUD are explored within the frameworks of task classification systems and schema theory.

Keywords:

• Motor skill classification
• tennis performance
• warm‐up decrement