Warm-up exercises are crucial before playing football because they can reduce your risk of injury, improve your performance and reduce muscle soreness. Football is a full-body contact sport that places a great demand on your body. Before sprinting, blocking and even throwing, it is essential that your body is warm and active.
Reduce Injury
Warm-up exercises help reduce your risk of injury. The Brian Mac Sports Coach website explains that muscle stiffness is directly related to muscle injury risk. Warming up the body allows the muscle to become more mobile. When your muscles are stiff and move right away, they are more likely to tear than if you slowly get your body working before you begin your football game.
Increase Performance
Warming up your body improves your performance on the field because during your warm-ups you mimic the movements you use during your playing time. Tom Moffit, head strength and conditioning coach for the Louisiana State University football team, explained to "Stack" magazine in 2008 that the purpose of the program's warm-up routine is to prepare the athletes to run, and that dynamic stretches and exercises help players perform at a high level.
Limit Muscle Soreness
Football is a full-contact sport that requires you to use all the major muscles in your body. After a game or a practice, your body will be sore. However, performing a dynamic warm-up will save you some pain later. The FitDay website explains that without a warm-up, your body struggles to fight its way through work, causing even more stiffness and soreness the following day.
Warm-Up Routine
A football warm-up routine should incorporate both dynamic stretching --- stretching with movement --- and static stretching --- stretching in place --- along with agility drills. Begin your warm-up with butt kicks, allowing yourself to stretch the fronts of the thighs, followed by high knees, which target the glutes. Side shuffles, leg swings and a light jog can also be a part of your warm-up. Complete static stretches like a hamstring forward fold, standing quadriceps stretch and runner's lunges to deepen your stretch.
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