Key Benefits of a Dynamic Warmup

You are motivated, you packed your gym bag the night before, you woke up early, drove all the way to the gym and only have 30 minutes before you need to get ready for work. You do a couple toe touches, arm stretches, and neck rolls, walk up to a dumbbell and start cranking away. STOP…..you are skipping an essential part of your workout and are risking injury.

You need to set aside 5-15 minutes BEFORE your workout for a DYNAMIC warm-up. I know, it’s tough; the last thing you want to do after you are pumped up and motivated is to set aside so much time for warming-up. However, just doing a few static stretches is not enough to fully prepare your mind and body. Compared to static stretches, a dynamic warm-up will increase blood flow and muscle temperature, prepare your joints for the activity, enhance coordination, and increase the activation of your nervous system. You will reduce injury and increase overall performance.

There are essentially three types of warm-ups: Ballistic, Static, and Dynamic. Ballistic involves bouncing or jerking and static involves flexing the muscles. A dynamic warm-up consists of full-body movements such as high knees, lunges, and jumping jacks. They improve muscular strength, mobility, stability, balance, coordination, agility and power.

Here is an example of a simple, dynamic warm-up you should perform before each workout session.

Dynamic Warm-up: Perform each exercise 10 times, repeat circuit 1-2 times.

  • Arm Circles

  • Torso Twists

  • Body Weight Squats

  • Lunges (in all directions)

  • Lunge with a twist

  • Cat/Cow

  • Fire Hydrants

  • High Kicks

  • Leg Swings

  • Jumping Jacks

  • Lateral Hops

Katrina Hutchison