Ensuring a decent warm-up in your exercise routine is the best way to get the most out of your workout. Not only is this aspect of your session critical in terms of better performance, but it will also significantly reduce the risk of injuries.
The warm-up adds benefits on several levels as a safe and effective way to start your training.
One is raising the resting heart rate, increasing the body’s temperature slowly. The other is related to mobility—loosening up the joints, muscles, ligaments, and other connective tissues before getting into anything too strenuous.
Warm-ups should always be dynamic rather than static. This means you should use active exercises that mimic those involved in the actual routine as closely as possible. Doing this will gradually engage and ‘turn on’ the muscle groups and the range of motion required for the actual activity involved in the workout.
It’s about getting the blood flowing to aid movement. This becomes even more crucial during colder weather, as it does with age—especially in light of previous injuries.
What Does Science Say about Warm-Ups?
Science points toward increased physical and mental readiness regarding warm-ups, improved performance, and less chance of injury. There.
As far as performance goes, there is also a list of other benefits that have been studied scientifically, not least of all improvements in strength and reaction time which is an obvious plus for some sports.
Dynamic Warm-ups
Dynamic stretching is about going through movements similar to the task at hand. For instance, front leg raises should be used for kicking, arm swings for tennis and swimming, knee raises for Thai boxing, sprinting, etc., etc.
These movements are performed with a gradual increase in range and speed, though they are not to be confused with ballistic stretching, where you ‘swing’ or ‘throw’ the body parts with force. Dynamic stretching involves lifting or raising the targeted body parts, slowly at first and gradually increasing the speed and range.
This activates the neural pathways used in the actual workout. If they are done with gradual increases in intensity, dynamic movements call on muscular contractions like the ones involved in the workout.
The exercises are usually performed in sets of 8-12 repetitions or as many as you can without the range of movement diminishing. The result is that the necessary mobility for the bulk of the session is achieved due to increased blood flow to the areas involved.
Resistance bands also can be a useful additional tool for this type of movement, which you might consider as your range of movement improves.
Note that this is in no way the same as static stretching, where the stretch or position is held for a minimum of 12-20 seconds. These stretches are the sole reserve of cooldowns and yoga, and they do not prepare the nervous system for the movements to come and will actually be counter-productive. This ultimately means MORE likelihood of injury during any workout that involves dynamic movement.
(Unfortunately, the failure to determine the difference between these two methods is still a major problem in many martial arts training where the session often begins with some cardio-type drills followed by static stretching.)
Warming Up for Specific Workouts
When selecting dynamic warm-up exercises for your specific workout, remember the golden rule—try to use movements that mimic some or all of those involved in the actual workout based on the main muscle groups.
Best Warm-Ups for Shoulder Workouts
Ideally, we need to mobilize the shoulder mechanism with forward and backward (internal and external) and some lateral rotation. The hand’s position will influence the degree of mobility, as seen in the video below.
Single arm circles, both forward and laterally, will activate the full range of motion and get those shoulders ready for some serious action, as will double arm rotations, again using forward and reverse movement. The resistance bands are great for these warm-ups once you have developed the basic shoulder mobility required for your workout.
Best Warm-Ups for Lower Body Workouts
The movements you select for this warm-up will depend to some extent on the type of lower body training involved (i.e., kicking, running, squatting, etc.), bearing in mind you need something close to the movement involved in the actual workout and the main muscle groups being utilized.
Leg and knee raises, bodyweight squats and lunges (done slowly, to begin with) will all help, as will the spider stretches, leg cradles, and side lunges demonstrated in this clip.
Best Warm-Ups for Chest and Back Workouts
The chest needs to be ‘opened up’ before undergoing any serious work, and this can be achieved with exercises like the butterfly and chain-breaker, as demonstrated HERE.
Along with the broader and more varied dynamic chest openers, these exercises will also help activate the upper back and scapula areas crucial to many workouts.
Best Warm-Ups for Cardio
The list could be endless on this one, but whichever exercise you choose (or even multiple options) the main objective is to elevate the heart rate so that you aren’t starting out ‘cold.’
It could be anything from simply walking or jogging at an increasing pace to using a treadmill, a bicycle, a skipping rope, or doing jumping jacks—a personal favorite, as some degree of dynamic stretching involves.
Further TIPS:
- If you are short on time and doing a bodyweight workout, you can forgo a specific warm-up and move the first set of the circuit slower and gentler (this is not recommended for weights or any high-impact training, though).
- Spending 5-15 minutes with a foam roller is a great way to get going and provides the opportunity to identify or iron out any tight spots. Try to hit most of the large muscle groups and any common problem areas that you might have. You can spend as much or as little time on this as you deem necessary and for any smaller or awkward areas, use a massage ball, a tennis ball, or even a golf ball.
- This should be followed by getting the heart rate up for 5-20 minutes (using a treadmill, a bike, a skipping rope, or jumping jacks, to name just a few options), then preparing the joints and muscles for what’s to follow with mobility and dynamic stretching exercises specific to the activity
- One of the most useful and comprehensive books I have ever read regarding not only warm-ups and dynamic stretching, but all types of stretching for various physical pursuits is ‘Stretching Scientifically’ by the incredible Thomas Kurz (he of the splits between two chairs famous for any of you old enough to remember). Well worth checking out if you are serious about these aspects of your training and want more insights, as is all of this man’s work.
