Mobility Is Not Stretching: How to Warm Up Before Strength Training

A common mix-up is thinking that stretching and preparing your body to train are the same thing. They aren't.

Long static stretches, the hold-it-for-30-seconds kind, have their place, usually at the end of a session or on recovery days. Done for a long time right before training, they can slightly reduce strength and power for a short period, while short holds inside a full warm-up have little effect (Behm et al., 2016). To start a session, what your body needs is active mobility: controlled movement through range that rehearses the patterns you are about to load.

The two steps that open every session

• Self-myofascial release: foam rolling with slow, deep breathing. It can briefly increase range of motion and reduce the feeling of stiffness without hurting performance (Wiewelhove et al., 2019).

• Dynamic stretching: active movements for the hips, ankles and thoracic spine, the three areas that most limit how well you move when they are stiff.

The result: when you reach the strength block, your body already knows the movement, you feel loose and alert, and you are less likely to compensate with the kind of slightly "off" movement that can turn into pain over time. A proper warm-up also improves performance in most situations studied (Fradkin et al., 2010).

A quick tip if you train on your own

Don't jump straight into your main lift. Take at least 10 minutes to warm up before strength training, preparing tissue and rehearsing the movements before adding load. It may feel like lost time. It isn't.

Not sure where your body needs to start? A free online assessment shows you exactly that. Coaching is 100% online for now, through the Trainerize app.

References

Behm, D. G., Blazevich, A. J., Kay, A. D., & McHugh, M. (2016). Acute effects of muscle stretching on physical performance, range of motion, and injury incidence in healthy active individuals: A systematic review. Applied Physiology, Nutrition, and Metabolism, 41(1), 1–11.

Fradkin, A. J., Zazryn, T. R., & Smoliga, J. M. (2010). Effects of warming-up on physical performance: A systematic review with meta-analysis. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 24(1), 140–148.

Wiewelhove, T., Döweling, A., Schneider, C., Hottenrott, L., Meyer, T., Kellmann, M., Pfeiffer, M., & Ferrauti, A. (2019). A meta-analysis of the effects of foam rolling on performance and recovery. Frontiers in Physiology, 10, 376.