The Benefits of Warming up Before Exercise Training

Quite often, I have noticed the recreational gym user skip warm-up exercises to save time. What they may not realize is spending a few minutes conducting warm-ups can allow them to perform their workout at a higher intensity, leading to greater performance gains and improvements.

The physiology behind a warm-up is simple, to increase your muscle temperature. By doing so, you increase the speed of muscle contraction, blood and nutrient flow to the muscles, and decrease muscle resistance (1). In addition, higher temperatures cause hemoglobin to lose affinity for oxygen, leading to increased oxygen uptake by muscles (1). Calcium released from the muscle during warm-ups can lead to even stronger contractions afterward (known as the Treppe Effect). All of these effects contribute to improvements in muscle performance.

For endurance training, a rule of thumb is to conduct a warm-up of 5-10 minutes at a light intensity. This is known as a general warm-up and can be accomplished through a combination of calisthenics (i.e. jumping jacks, running in place), jumping rope, or a light cardiovascular workout on a machine (elliptical, stair master, treadmill, etc.) if they are available.

This is a general recommendation, although I do not advise going past 10 minutes unless you know there is a significant amount of time (at least 30 minutes) between your warm-up and your training session. Even then, try not to exceed 15 minutes, and consider moving your warm-up closer to your training session first, before increasing the time you spend on your warm-up. You do not want to go to exhaustion, but merely break a small sweat.

And don't restrict yourself on what constitutes a warm-up. Be creative! Sport and event specific warm-ups are thought to improve performance because you 'go through the motions' and prepare your muscles as well as your nervous system for the upcoming activity (1). For example, if you are a sprinter, consider adding a short sprint (100m max) to your warm-up to help your muscles prepare for training.

If you are about to play football or basketball, go through the cuts, lay-ups, moves and motions associated with the sport. If you are a weight lifter, lift some light weights (I recommend a single set of 40-50% of your intended load for 6-8 reps) prior to your workout. Conduct these warm-ups after a general warm-up though, that way your muscles are already warm and are less prone to injury.

And of course, take a few minutes to rest following your warm-up before you begin training. As a rule of thumb, I recommend a 1:1 ratio of warm-up to rest minutes. The key is balance, to spend enough time on your warm-up to properly heat your muscles, but not expending so much energy that you exhaust yourself, or let too much time pass between your warm-up and workout such that your muscles cool off.

Note for resistance training, do not stretch before a weight-lifting session. Research has shown you can lose from 5-30% of your strength by stretching (2,3,4,5). It has been proposed if the range of motion needed for an activity is not extreme, drop stretching and increase the warm-up (6).

As for stretching and endurance activities, the jury is still out on the benefits. I recommend if you intend to incorporate a stretch before an endurance workout, conduct one after your warm-ups. Warm muscles provide a better stretch and a range of motion increase (6).

Warm-ups are an excellent way to enhance and get the most out of your workout. Spending a few minutes warming up prior to your main workout creates physiological changes in your muscle that allow you to maximize your training intensity and subsequently, performance.

References

1. Hendrick, A., Physiological Responses to Warm-Up, National Strength and Conditioning Association Journal, Volume 14, pg. 25-27, 1992

2. Young, W.B., Behm, D.G., Should Static Stretching Be Used During a Warm-Up for Strength and Power Activities?, Strength and Conditioning Journal, Volume 24, pg. 33-37, 2002

3. Behm, D.G., Button, D.C., Butt, J.C., Factors Affecting Force Loss with Prolonged Stretching, Canadian Journal of Applied Physiology, Volume 26, pg. 262-272, 2001

4. Kokkonen, J., Nelson, A.G., Cornwell, A., Acute Muscle Stretching Inhibits Maximal Strength Performance, Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport, Volume 69, pg. 411-415, 1998

5. Fowles, J.R., Sale, D.G., MacDougall, J.D., Reduced Strength After Passive Stretch of the Human Plantarflexors, Journal of Applied Physiology, Volume 89, pg. 1179-1188, 2000

6. Shrier, I., Gossal, K., Myths and Truths of Stretching, Individualized Recommendations for Healthy Muscles, The Physician and Sports Medicine, Vol 28, pg. 57-63, 2000