Warm Up Right

While the reasons for warming up are well known — it increases core and muscle temperature, stimulates peripheral blood flow and enhances range of motion — there’s no specific formula that can predict an improvement in performance. A meta-analysis of 32 studies in The Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research concluded that sport performance improved 79% of the time after subjects warmed up, even though each study used a different approach. In general, researchers define an effective warm-up as a short bout of low-intensity cardio followed by dynamic stretching and sport-specific movements. Intensity should be closely monitored so you don’t fatigue prematurely.