A dynamic warm up is the best way to prepare your body for exercise.
It’s never a good idea to just jump into a workout cold.
Your muscles are very likely tight and constricted which is a pretty solid recipe for an injury.
A thorough warm up will literally warm your body up so that it’s ready to take on the demands of your workout.
What A Dynamic Warm Up Does
- Mobilize tight and constricted areas
- Activate the movement patterns of the workout to come
- Raise your heart rate
- Create elasticity in your muscles
- Lubricate your joints
If you’re wondering why it’s called a “dynamic warm up” that’s because it’s… wait for it…
Dynamic.
The opposite would be static.
A dynamic warm up moves continuously vs. a series of static warm up stretches that are pretty much stationary.
There’s a lot of debate about whether or not static stretches are good to do before a workout.
Most of the info out there is misunderstood.
Long story short? There’s nothing wrong with doing some static warm up stretches before you hit your workout.
In fact, you might notice that you feel a lot better.
I’m also a huge fan of rolling.
Check out this video from my good friend Jill Miller if you want to learn more.
But that aside, static stretches aren’t enough.
It’s important to get the blood flowing.
So, I created this head-to-toe dynamic warm up that you could do before pretty much any workout.
And if you want a bodyweight workout that’ll get your heart racing in only 7 minutes, check out this video.
A Quick Note
If you’re doing a session that’s hyper specific in terms of a single movement pattern, it’d be a good idea to add in a few more moves that mimic that movement pattern.
An example of that would be if you were lifting and planning to do some heavy squats.
You could perform this dynamic warm up and then add in a few sets of bodyweight squats, then load the movement with a dumbbell (goblet squats).
Makes sense, right?
Truthfully, a lot of this isn’t as complicated as most people would make you believe.
Remember: this is science. Not rocket science.
P.S. – Some people actually do this every morning regardless of whether or not they’re working out.
It’s a great way to wake your body up and get the blood flowing.
Hope you enjoy!
Drop a comment below and let me know what you thought of this!
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