What Is A Dynamic Warmup And Why You Should Be Doing One

What is a dynamic warmup? Dynamic training is exercise that stimulates real life body movements. The exercises in a dynamic warm up mimic the exercises that will be performed in the main part of the workout. The movements are usually done against light to moderate resistance in order to improve functional strength, mobility, stability, balance and coordination. Dynamic warm up uses exercises that exaggerate the ability to stay balanced while moving or slightly resisting. This can be done by unilateral exercises that use one leg or one arm. They also can include bilateral, on stable or unstable surfaces, or even by closing eyes.

A dynamic warm up is better than static stretching. With static stretching you lengthen the elasticity of the muscle. In doing so you decrease its ability to rebound as well and limit its ability to perform maximum strength output during the work out. Static stretching should be done once your entire workout is complete to get rid of lactic acid and help with recovery.

It is best to start out with five to ten minutes of a full body cardio machine like an elliptical if you are doing a full body workout. If you are  doing a lower body I suggest cycling or running. If it is an upper body workout you may want to warm up on the rowing machine.Once the blood is flowing from the warmup I continue getting them ready for the workout by using different series of dynamic exercises. The dynamic exercises should geared towards what your workout is going to be.

The following are some examples dynamic circuits that can be used. You can combined as many series as you want and do them in any order you would like. Remember this isn’t the full workout and that it is just part of the warm up. Some of the series involve hurdles. If you don’t have any hurdles you can just skip that series.

Series 1(20m)
Alt Arm Rotations Fwd
Alt Arm Rotations Backward
Alt Arm Rotations Fwd Acute
Alt Arm Rotations Backward Acute
Double Arm Rotations Fwd
Double Arm Rotations Backward
Double Arm Rotations Fwd Acute
Double Arm Rotations Backward Acute
Chest Flies Straight Arm
Chest Flies Acute Arm

Series 2 (10 Reps)
Wrist Circles
Trunk Twists
Hip Circles
Knee Circles
Ankle Circles
Sky Divers

Series 3 (10 Reps)
Scorpions
Scissors (Frontal & Sagittal)
Donkey Kicks
Trail Leg Against Wall
Lead Leg Plows
Fire Hydrants
Iron Cross

Series 4 (10 reps)
Hurdle Cross Over
Wall Attack
Inverted Bicycle
Hurdle Seat Change
Trail Leg
Lead Leg
Lead Leg/Trail Leg
Lunge Exchange

Series 5 (10 reps/20m)
Ground Sweep
Lunge Walk
Hamstring Jog/Stretch
Dynamic Hamstring Walk
Grapevine

Series 6(20m)
Same hand/leg(inside heel/outside)
Heel/Toe Walks (In/Out/straight)
Knee-Chest/Heel Butt
Inside/Inside/Outside/Outside
Karaoke leg crossovers

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The One Part Of Training We All Have A Tendency To Leave Out

When an athlete has tight hamstrings the quadriceps will work harder because they are working against the hamstrings to compensate. This causes both the quadriceps and hamstrings to fatigue and sets the stage for a poor performance or makes the runner prone to injury.Tight hamstrings are a huge contributor to lower back pain, knee pain and leg length differences. If the hamstrings are tight and don’t fire properly, neither do the gluteus maximus and this causes the erector spinae to contract first, followed by the glutes and then the hamstrings and this puts massive stresses on the lumbar spine causing back pain. This also can happen to you!
The following are some great stretches for your hips and legs. Hold each stretch for a minimum of 30s and repeat each stretch for both the right and left leg 3 times. Make stretching a priority and part of your daily routine.




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This takes dynamic warm up to a whole different level. Props to the girl for being in the zone. Miley Cyrus you have started a problem haha

If this kid trains harder than you do you need to reassess what you are doing with your training and what your goals are.