Maybe Just A Little PassionateThose who have taken my fitness classes, done personal training with me, or attended some of my wellness presentations, are already aware how passionate I am about proper warm up.  The passion comes from my desire to rid society of the incorrect assumption that static stretching is the appropriate way to prep the body for movement in exercise or sport.  If you are an old timer, like me, then you probably grew up with your kiddie sports league coaches getting you ready for practice or a game with a mixture of static stretching and drills.  The drills are, and were, great because they prepare the body for activity by practicing similar movement patterns.  Drills are basically sport specific versions of dynamic warm up.  In essence, a dynamic warm up is a series of movement patterns that prepare the full body for the activity it is about take on.  Leg Swings, Jumping Jacks, High Knees, and Burpees are good examples of dynamic warm up movements.  You can see my dynamic warm up video here as an example.The static stretching, on the other hand, really isn’t the best way to prep the body for movement.  When you think about it, it makes sense.  Unless your activity requires you to hold a stretch in position for 20 – 30 seconds, it doesn’t seem that you are preparing your body with similar movement patterns to your exercise or sport.  Think about a runner.  Running is an explosive, full body, dynamic movement.  Think about how many repetitions of explosive power have to occur to drive the body up and forward to carry on running, even just for 1 mile.  If a runner goes through a sequence of static stretches before they start pounding pavement are they really setting themselves up for their best performance?  The answer is vehemently “No!” You may say that you have been doing your good old static stretching routine for years and it works great and keeps you injury free.  I would agree that is great but there are other factors to consider when choosing your warm up: performance, agility, force production, and even flexibility.The ResearchOne well known study that was published in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, compared dynamic warm up versus static stretching warm up by looking at 30 cadets (14 female and 16 male) at the US Military Academy.  The cadets would perform 1 of 3 options of warm up: dynamic warm up, static stretching warm up, or no warm up.  The warm up would take approximately 10 minutes, then they would have a quick rest of 1 – 2 minutes before completing 3 different performance tests.  The performance tests included the famous T-Shuttle run, medicine ball throws as far as possible, and 5-step jump.  If you are familiar with these 3 movements then I think you would agree these require the athlete to perform with both power and agility.  The study found that the best performance scores for all 3 tests were seen after athletes completed the dynamic warm up versus static stretching warm up or no warm up.Still not convinced?  Another study in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research looked at 45 volunteers to see if warm up could affect their flexibility, peak torque, and force production.  As was done in the previous study, there were 3 types of warm up that were evaluated: dynamic warm up, static stretching warm up, and no warm up.