Maybe Just A Little Passionate
Those who have taken my fitness classes, done personal training with me, or attended some of my wellness presentations, are already aware how passionate I am about proper warm up. The passion comes from my desire to rid society of the incorrect assumption that static stretching is the appropriate way to prep the body for movement in exercise or sport. If you are an old timer, like me, then you probably grew up with your kiddie sports league coaches getting you ready for practice or a game with a mixture of static stretching and drills. The drills are, and were, great because they prepare the body for activity by practicing similar movement patterns. Drills are basically sport specific versions of dynamic warm up. In essence, a dynamic warm up is a series of movement patterns that prepare the full body for the activity it is about take on. Leg Swings, Jumping Jacks, High Knees, and Burpees are good examples of dynamic warm up movements. You can see my dynamic warm up video here as an example.
The static stretching, on the other hand, really isn’t the best way to prep the body for movement. When you think about it, it makes sense. Unless your activity requires you to hold a stretch in position for 20 – 30 seconds, it doesn’t seem that you are preparing your body with similar movement patterns to your exercise or sport. Think about a runner. Running is an explosive, full body, dynamic movement. Think about how many repetitions of explosive power have to occur to drive the body up and forward to carry on running, even just for 1 mile. If a runner goes through a sequence of static stretches before they start pounding pavement are they really setting themselves up for their best performance? The answer is vehemently “No!” You may say that you have been doing your good old static stretching routine for years and it works great and keeps you injury free. I would agree that is great but there are other factors to consider when choosing your warm up: performance, agility, force production, and even flexibility.
The Research
One well known study that was published in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, compared dynamic warm up versus static stretching warm up by looking at 30 cadets (14 female and 16 male) at the US Military Academy. The cadets would perform 1 of 3 options of warm up: dynamic warm up, static stretching warm up, or no warm up. The warm up would take approximately 10 minutes, then they would have a quick rest of 1 – 2 minutes before completing 3 different performance tests. The performance tests included the famous T-Shuttle run, medicine ball throws as far as possible, and 5-step jump. If you are familiar with these 3 movements then I think you would agree these require the athlete to perform with both power and agility. The study found that the best performance scores for all 3 tests were seen after athletes completed the dynamic warm up versus static stretching warm up or no warm up.
Still not convinced? Another study in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research looked at 45 volunteers to see if warm up could affect their flexibility, peak torque, and force production. As was done in the previous study, there were 3 types of warm up that were evaluated: dynamic warm up, static stretching warm up, and no warm up. The study found that the best scores for flexibility, peak torque, and force production were seen after subjects completed the dynamic warm up as opposed to the static stretching warm up or no warm up options. Torque and force production were not a surprise to me since I have seen lots of research showing how dynamic movements can improve these but I was surprised by the increase flexibility!
I have definitely heard some folks say they don’t feel like they need to warm up because they stay injury free just fine with no warm up. Those folks are definitely more bulletproof then most and are certainly rolling the dice. Even if they don’t feel the need to warm up for injury prevention, it seems they are leaving something on the table from a performance standpoint.
Static Is All About Timing
Don’t get me wrong, there are great reasons to do static stretching, including improvement of range of motion, and injury prevention. It is just all about the timing. Static stretching should be done at the end of your workout or sports session as part of the cool down or on a different day than your workout. If you must do static stretching before your workout then try to plan it far enough ahead of your session so that the body can recuperate from the negative performance effects. A few hours is probably overkill but would presumably be safe.
The Plea
Hopefully I have helped convince you, if you are not already doing so, that a simple dynamic warm up before you engage in exercise or sport is a beneficial investment in time. Let’s stop with the static stretching before we hit the weights, the field, the court, the road, or the track. Let’s plug in movements that best prepare us for being athletic and improve our performance. Let’s bring the dynamic warm up to our young exercisers and athletes and have them do leg swings and burpees instead of sitting on the ground touching their toes. Maybe bringing in this small change to your routine will be just what your body needed to hit that new personal best in the activity of the day.
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