Warm-up

Warming Up

Preparing for movement, "movement prep" , warming up or whatever you want to call it--is something done before exercise or working out. The purpose of a warm up is to warm the muscles, increase the heart rate and prepare the muscles, neuromuscular system and mind for training. They guys and gals with the most aches and pains and worst exercise form always seem to be the ones who skip warming up because they are "in a rush." Check out the benefits Mr./Mrs. In A Hurry are missing.

Benefits from warming up include:

Increased speed of contraction and relaxation of warmed muscles
Dynamic exercises reduce muscle stiffness
Greater economy of movement because of lowered viscous resistance within warmed muscles
Facilitated oxygen utilization by warmed muscles because hemoglobin releases oxygen more readily at higher muscle temperatures
Facilitated nerve transmission and muscle metabolism at higher temperatures; a specific warm up can facilitate motor unit recruitment required in subsequent all out activity (use more of your muscle strength).
Increased blood flow through active tissues as local vascular beds dilate, increasing metabolism and muscle temperatures
Allows the heart rate get to a workable rate for beginning exercise
Mentally focuses you on the training or competition

The more muscles you involve, the better (for the most part). The best warm ups involve lower amplitude versions of the movements you are about to do, i.e.:

walking and jogging before running
slow cycling before hard cycling
forward, backward running, side shuffling and short jumps before a basketball game
lighter weights and sets before the first heavy set in a weight workout

You get the idea. So we are not talking about static stretching here--static stretching actually forces the target muscle to relax, it temporarily makes it weaker. not the best thing to do before a workout (but great after--see Flexibility page).

Dynamic stretching is the ticket for warming up! A dynamic stretch is the opposite of a static stretch. In this version, you quickly move a muscle in and out of a stretched position. Example: A body-weight lunge is a dynamic stretch for your quadriceps and hips.

Here's why the difference matters: Improvements in flexibility are specific to your body position and speed of movement. So if you do only static stretching — as most do — you'll primarily boost your flexibility in that exact posture while moving at a slow speed. While certainly effective if you're a contortionist, it has limited carryover to the flexibility you need in sports and weight training, which require your muscles to stretch at fast speeds in various body positions. That's why dynamic stretching is a necessary component of any program: It improves your "active" flexibility, the kind you need in every type of athletic endeavor.

Dynamic stretching also excites your central nervous system, and increases bloodflow, and strength and power production. So it's the ideal warm-up for any activity. And when you regularly perform both dynamic and static stretches, some of the flexibility improvements from one will transfer to the other.

Check out the following routines and try one for 5-10 minutes before your next workout:

Dynamic Warm-up - Floor

Dynamic Warm-up - Standing

Joint Mobility video guide