Ultra-FIT magazine

Warming up is a vital component in every workout. In addition to getting us mentally and physically ready for exercise, it provides an opportunity to practice the movements we are going to perform in the coming session whilst hopefully minimising the risk of suffering injury while training…

So, how best to warm up?
Assuming you are warming up for a general workout, it makes sense to perform a generalised warm up which gets all the muscles, joints and systems of the body working well to facilitate a good training session. The ingredients of a general warm are…

1) The pulse raiser – cardiovascular exercise is used to raise the heart rate and is the part of the warm up that makes you warm! It’s important to make the pulse raiser graduated i.e. increase in intensity over time. By using exercises such as rowers, cross trainers or skipping, in addition to raising the pulse, it is possible to mobilise all the major joints of the body. You should finish your pulse raiser at an RPE or around 5/6 or, in other words, feeling ready to get on with some more strenuous exercise! 5 to 10 minutes spent on this component of warming up is plenty – we want to be warmed up and not worn out after all.

2) Joint mobility – chances are that if you selected the rower, cross trainer or skipping, you’ll have mobilised your major joints already and won’t need to spend any further time getting your joints ready for exercise. If, however, you warmed up using a bike or treadmill, you may well need to mobilise the joints you didn’t move during that exercise. To mobilise a joint, simply take it through its natural range of movement in a controlled fashion, increasing the degree of motion as you feel the joint warming up e.g. shallow knee bends progressing to full squats over 10-15 reps to mobilise the hips and knees or small arm circles progressing to full arm circles to mobilise the shoulders.

 3) Flexibility – it’s not uncommon to see people performing static stretches as part of their warm up but, as useful as this type of stretching is, it’s far better to utilise a method of stretching called dynamic stretching in the warm up and leave the static stretches for the cool down. Static stretches tend to cause reduced blood flow through muscles, muscular relaxation, the pulse to slow and reduced body temperature – none of which sound like things we want in a warm up! In comparison, dynamic stretches keep the heart rate and body temperature elevated, “wake up” our muscles, mirror the movements likely to be performed in the workout and also promote joint mobility.

The Ultra Fit Warm Up
In the video, you’ll see a pulse raiser – in this case skipping - plus 4 dynamic stretches which will prepare the muscles and joints for the workout to come. Make sure when you perform your own warm ups you make your cardio progressive i.e. start slow and build up gradually and perform your stretches in a controlled and rhythmical manner – never being too ballistic. The whole warm up should take somewhere between 5-10 minutes in total, depending on how much cardio you do and how many repetitions of the dynamic stretches you perform…

Dynamic Stretch 1 – alternating leg swings
Stretches the hamstrings whilst mobilising the hips
Simulates kicking a football

Dynamic stretch 2 – horizontal push and pull
Stretches the pecs and mid traps/rhomboids whilst mobilising the shoulders, elbows and thoracic spine
Simulates the chest press and seated row

Dynamic stretch 3 – squat, reach and twist
Stretching the quads, adductors, hamstrings, glutes, obliques, lats and pecs whilst mobilising the ankles, knees, hips, spine, shoulders and elbows
Simulates squats, shoulder press, lat pull downs and twisting crunches

Dynamic stretch 4 – duck unders/step overs
Stretches the quads, hamstrings, glutes, erector spinea, adductors whilst mobilising the ankles, knees, hips and spine
Simulates squats and deadlifts

Remember – you should always get the all-clear from your Doctor before starting a new exercise routine

There is a substantial amount of research that indicates that held stretches, such as bending down to touch your toes, to stretch your hamstrings can actually impair dynamic sports and fitness performance.

Canadian researchers looked at the effects of maximal and sub-maximal held stretches on jump performance (1). Ten people participated in the study and each performed 4 x 30sec. of maximal range of movement stretching (to what the researchers called the ‘point of discomfort’ (PoD). They also performed non-maximum range of movement stretches (2, stretch reps at 75% and 50% of PoD). All stretches targeted the hamstrings, quadriceps and ankle muscles. Five minutes after one of the stretch protocols the participants performed various plyometric jump exercises, such as drop (depth) jumps and squat jumps. It was discovered that these were negatively affected. For example, drop jump and squat jump height was reduced by 4.6% and 5.7% respectively, compared to the participants’ jump performance without prior held stretching. The researchers answered the ‘why’ question (sort of) by stating, “…it is hypothesised that changes in muscle compliance may play a role.” Basically they believe that stretching reduced the elasticity and power potential of the survey participant’s muscles.

There will be those who still hold onto old school ideas about stretching who may argue, ‘Ah, yes, but you need to stretch to avoid injury and to achieve the necessary range of movement for your sport’. Well, ‘yes and no’. Yes, you do need to have the necessary range of movement to perform the technique/techniques required of your sport. And it is also a good idea to include held stretches in your warm downs to boost recovery. But there is a considerable amount of ‘no’

Stretching can actually lead to injury before sports performance

Canadian researchers conducted a research review looking specifically at the relationship between stretching in the warm-up and injury prevention (2). They concluded that stretching had little benefit to dynamic performance, for similar reasons as previously noted, but also came up with these other selected findings:

1)   Stretching has little relevance to sports where ‘excessive muscle length’ is not required e.g. jogging

2)   Stretching will not protect a muscle from being strained during an eccentric contraction – of which more below

3)   Stretching can mask pain in humans

Most hamstring injuries, for example, occur when the hamstrings undergo an eccentric (lengthening under load) contraction to arrest the forward travel of the lower leg and foot to pull them back toward the ground when running or to stop the leg’s travel when kicking. Held stretching will have little or no effect on reducing this potentiality, but dynamic stretching and strengthening warm up drills will. These exercises include leg and arm swings, walking lunges, trunk rotations, calf raises and sprint type drills – all performed at increasing intensity across the warm up. Athletes and fitness trainers should perform these with control and progress their speed of performance over time (if they are unfamiliar with them) when preparing for dynamic activity.

1. Eur J Appl Physiol. 2007 Nov;101(5):587-94. Epub 2007 Aug 4
2. Clin J Sport Med. 1999 Oct;9(4):221-7