Warming up before exercise will improve an athlete's level of performance, states Brian Mackenzie, a performance coach with UK Athletics. The hemoglobin in your blood releases oxygen more steadily when your body reaches higher temperatures, allowing for an increase in blood flow through your active muscles and tissues. By warming your muscles up, you can become mentally sharper and more prepared before exercise.
Function
The purpose of a warm-up is to raise the temperature of your body and lengthen your muscles in the process. Ahmad Tousi, a FIFA licensed soccer coach, says that warming up before exercise prepares your cardiovascular system, respiratory system, neuromuscular system and the musculoskeletal system for strenuous activity. In turn, you reduce your risk of injury as your muscular temperatures increase. Tousi recommends a brisk walk or jog for 5 to 8 minutes, and to avoid substituting stretching as a warm-up, since stretching cold muscles can increase your chances of injury.
Benefits
Mackenzie states that your muscles contract and relax more efficiently when performing a proper warm up, which aids in reducing muscle stiffness. As the temperature of your active muscles increases, the amount of oxygen that travels to your active muscles also increases, and your nervous system becomes more active. Tousi states that general exercises that involve low-level activity, such as jogging and walking, are more effective in raising muscular temperature, since these exercises provide a full body warm-up.
Passive vs. Active
Passive warm-ups seek to increase your overall body temperature without performing physical activity. Wearing heavy apparel such as a sweater can achieve this, and Tousi recommends combining passive methods of warming up with active ones for optimal results.
Active warm-ups consist of general warm-ups that use low intensity movements to increase the temperature of your muscles, and sport-specific warm-ups actively involve muscles used in sports-related movements, such as warming up your arm and shoulder muscles before swinging a tennis racket.
Considerations
Warming up should gently increase the level of intensity for your body for upcoming vigorous activity and gradually increase your heart rate and circulation, which loosens your joints and increases blood flow to your muscles. Warming up provides you with an opportunity to prepare mentally for a workout or game and should last no more than 20 minutes. Most importantly, you should focus your warm-ups on preventing injury during exercise by performing dynamic movements to keep your muscles warm.
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