Stretching and The Dynamic Warm Up

The first and arguably the most common of sins in the gym is a combination of three things: the static warm up, the non-specific warm up or the absence of a warm up altogether.

Many people find warming up boring, tiring or possibly don't see the value in it. They'd prefer to get straight over to the bench press and start pushing around the big plates. It's one of the most satisfying and rewarding things to do in the gym and many of us want to get straight to it. Naturally.

A warm-up is any practice designed to prepare the body for physical activity. In a fitness center environment: it usually consists of running, cycling, rowing or an elliptical machine. The activity raises the core body temperature along with the resting heart rate.

Static stretching is used to stretch muscles while the body is at rest. Various techniques are used to elongate the muscles in a static position, that position is held anywhere from 30 seconds to two minutes.

Dynamic stretching is a form of stretching based on movement. It is designed to safely prepare the muscle for movement- comparable to an individuals passive stretching capacity. It is important to differentiate dynamic stretching from ballistic stretching which is a forceful, violent form of stretching (simply put 'bouncing') to take muscles beyond their passive stretching capacity - which should be avoided.

You can frequently see more experienced gym members holding a quad or shoulder stretch for a few seconds before their sets. For a long time it has been thought that static stretching before exercise will help prevent injury.

More recently however, various independent studies have been carried out that show a marked decrease in strength and performance where static stretching was performed preceding physical activity. Rod Pope's study showed no evidence to suggest static stretching made any difference to the rate of injury in the participants in his study. In short, static stretching will not only not prevent injury but will also reduce your performance in the gym and ultimately your gains.

Studies have shown a dynamic warm up to increase strength, performance, balance and flexibility. In terms of injury prevention it is far superior in that it increases flexibility while positively affecting performance.

A muscle is like a rubber band in that if force is suddenly applied to it when cold it will become damaged and even break whereas when warm it will be able to withstand a significantly larger force and still return to its original size and shape. Unlike a rubber band, our muscles can recover from a small amount of damage and repair themselves becoming stronger, larger and leaner.

It is important that a warm-up is specific. For example: running on a treadmill and walking lunges is not an ideal warm up for a workout largely based around a bench press. A Dynamic Warm Up should target the muscles involved in the day's workout.

An excellent exercise to prepare for a bench press is the overhead dowl stretch. Holding on to a dowel (broomstick) in front of the body with an overhand grip approximiately double shoulder width apart. Keeping the arms straight and the elbows locked, the dowel is then slowly raised overhead and brought as far back as possible (touching your butt if possible). If this feel too easy then the grip is brought closer together, if this feels too tight or difficult to perform safely the grip can be brought out wider until the movement can be completed with only very minor discomfort.

Core Performance has an extensive database of exercises that can be performed, with excellent descriptions and demonstration videos as well as a wealth of information on health, fitness and nutrition in general.