4 warm-up steps to improve movement and avoid injuries

- Whether you're getting ready for a pickleball match, strength training, or working in the garden, it's easy to consider warming up with an optional few minutes of stretching before "real" activity. But warming up is not limited to increasing flexibility, but rather prepares the muscles, joints, nervous system, and breathing for the movements, their range, and the level of effort required. It also helps improve performance and prevent injuries.

People often do static stretching for long periods of time in preparation for movement. Although they are useful for recovery and corrective exercises, they are not suitable for warming up, and may negatively affect performance, especially when continued for 60 seconds or more.

As a movement coach in professional sports, I do not use stretches longer than 30 seconds in a warm-up. It is best to use dynamic stretching and movement exercises that move the joints within their active ranges and activate the muscles to support and control movement.

A longer warm-up does not mean that it is better; A few deliberate minutes may be more effective than 30 minutes of unnecessary exercise. It should take about 6 to 16 minutes, depending on how active and how you feel that day.

The goal is to feel warm, toned and prepared, not exhausted. 4-Step Formula Note: Before starting this or any new exercise program, consult your doctor or physical therapist. 1.

Breathing and Roller (2 to 3 minutes) Breathing is the logical starting point for any warm-up, as the diaphragm also helps stabilize the body and maintain proper posture. Take a few deep, slow breaths, so that the lower ribs expand outward on the inhale, then move inward, back and down on the exhale.

Combine controlled breathing and soft tissue conditioning using a foam roller, focusing on areas where you feel stiff, such as your calves, thighs and buttocks. A systematic review of 49 studies found that using a foam roller can reduce muscle stiffness and increase range of motion without negatively affecting performance, especially when combined with dynamic stretching and an active warm-up. 2.

Warm up your body temperature (1 to 3 minutes) For a few minutes, do easy, regular movements that raise your heart rate and warm your muscles, such as brisk walking, walking in place, or riding a stationary bike. The goal is to warm the body, not exhaust it, as increasing muscle temperature helps improve strength and the ability to produce it quickly. 3.

Move and Activate Your Muscles (2 to 6 minutes) Do dynamic movements including squatting, bending, pushing, pulling, rotating, holding, and balancing exercises on one leg. Compound movements can combine several styles together, so there's no need to do nine separate exercises.

To perform a back lunge, stand with your feet hip-width apart and engage your core muscles. Then step back, resting on the front of your foot as you land.

For example, a forward or backward lunge with arms extended above your head combines a squat and a push in the forward and backward plane. Add a rotational movement to the plane exercise or the Romanian deadlift (RDL), which is a lower body strengthening exercise that targets the muscles of the rear thighs, buttocks, and lower back, thus combining bending, rotation, and balance movements within the forward, backward, and rotational planes of movement.

Add a pull-up exercise or pull-with-extension movement to the side lunge exercise, to combine activation of the muscles of the lower body with stabilization and pulling in the plane of movement from side to side. Modify exercises as needed, and move only within a range you can control.

Warming up is not the time to exceed your energy. Gradually increase your range of motion, comfortably and painlessly, as your body temperature rises.

Make sure that the intensity of the exercise is light enough to improve the quality of your movement, not reduce it. 4. Simulate what you will do later (1 to 5 minutes) Here the warm-up becomes more specific to the activity you will perform.

Gradually make the final minutes mimic his movements: jog in place before running, use lighter weights before strength training, and add lateral and rotational movements before pickleball or tennis. The closer the warm-up matches the speed, direction, and movement requirements of the activity, the smoother the transition to performance will be.

Tailor the warm-up to your needs Not all warm-up phases need to be the same duration. Heavy strength exercises require more time to simulate the movements and gradually increase the weights, while light functional fitness exercises require less time after movement and activation exercises.

As you get used to this formula, you can make the warm-up more effective by incorporating most of the movements of Step 4 into Steps 2 and 3. Before walking long distances, for example, you can raise your knees while walking, then activate and move the muscles with exercises such as walking lunges with arms extended and rotated, lateral lunges, and going up and down the stairs.

Whatever the activity, the formula remains the same, but the focus differs. You prepare your body in the same four ways, combining movements as much as possible to meet your needs that day.