SubscribeDynamic Warm Up Exercises To Keep You Injury-Free
Warming up is one of those things that is either completely overlooked or done wrong. The biggest mistake people still make today (even though every trainer, health magazine, and fitness books tell you not to do) is static stretching.
Static stretching has it’s place… and it’s after working out. It can be done as part of your cool down routine, but it shouldn’t be part of any warm up routine. If you think about it, the whole idea of “warming up” is to get your body moving, to get your muscles warm so that you don’t pull any muscles during your workout.
Static stretching does mobilize your joints and stimulates the ligaments and tendons around your joints, but it doesn’t promote enough blood flow into your muscles to effectively warm them up. What’s more, holding a stretch for prolonged periods of time elongates your muscles, tendons, and ligaments and makes contracting less efficient and making you more prone to injury when you go to hit the weights. Since you need your muscles to be ready to contract and elongate at vigorous rates as soon as you start exercising, static stretching should not be your exercise of choice prior to working out.
On the flip side, just doing jumping jacks or a light jog isn’t the best choice either—even though you’re stimulating your heart to get more blood pumping into your muscles. So why isn’t it a good choice? Because you’re completely neglecting to mobilize your joints!
So the obvious question is… what should you do to mobilize as many joints in your body as possible, while getting your heart rate up so you can promote enough blood flow into your muscles to get an effective warm up?
The answer is… dynamic mobilization exercises—perhaps better known as dynamic stretching or dynamic warm ups.
Dynamic mobilization exercises combine the best of both worlds by mobilizing your joints through various movements done in full ranges of motion while utilizing your legs to cause your heart rate to increase, thereby promote more blood flow into your muscles at the same time!
I know that’s a mouthful, but now you know what to do. If you haven’t been doing so already, stop doing static stretches and start doing dynamic warm up exercises instead.
Watch the video below of two really effective dynamic mobilization exercises that you can do as part of your warm up routine.
Include these as part of your dynamic warm up routines prior to doing more specific types of warm up exercises. Before starting your workout, you should always include a few reps of the prescribed exercises in your workout. This will get your muscles firing in the specific sequence necessary to perform the move. For instance, if the workout calls for some deadlifts, pull ups, and push ups, be sure to do a few reps of light deadlifts, pulls ups, and push ups to warm up the exact movement. This should be done after doing the dynamic warm up so that you’re thoroughly warmed up and ready to hit the workout hard.
Here’s a sample dynamic warm up that I like to do before a workout:
12 Air Squats
10 Lunges (5 per leg)
8 Mobility Lunges** (4 per leg)
10 Over Unders** (5 per side)
12 Press Ups with a Stick
** Exercises shown in the video
Most of my clients are surprised to learn that a proper warm up doesn’t necessarily include the stretches and light jog that you see everyone else doing before hitting the weights. Are you surprised? Post your comments below. ...And try a dynamic warm up next time you workout!
About The Author
Shin Ohtake is a widely recognized strength coach and fitness & fat-loss expert. His unconventional, no-nonsense approach to getting fit has made him the go-to source for fitness enthusiasts and trainers alike. Shin is also the author of the world famous, MAX Workouts book, which has transformed and reshaped the bodies of thousands of people across the globe - without requiring hours in the gym. To learn more about how MAX Workouts can help you achieve your fitness goals, visit maxworkouts.com.
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Hi Shin,
Great dynamic workout, I certainly gonna try these workouts before I hit the weights.
Thank you very much,
Greetings, Ada.