.
“…when that first serve happens, I’m ready to go.”
If you’ve been on this planet for a few decades you’ve likely experienced a vast array of exercise fads. That includes warm-up theories that research over the last 20 to 30 years has proven to be wrong or misplaced.
“Back in the 80s, we used to encourage people often to stretch as part of their warm-up, that static stretching, so get up in the morning, do your stretches, get out for a run,” says Kirsten Davie, the president of Physiotherapy New Zealand, who also has a clinical practice in Wellington. By static stretching, she means a stretch that you hold for 20 or 30 seconds.
“Whereas, now we would be looking to walk around, get the blood flowing before you go out for a run, and when you come back from your run, you might take that opportunity to do some stretches at that time.”
And what about the theory of stretching as far as you can and pulsing it out four or five times? Definitely, don’t do that, according to Davie.
“…It’s pretty recognised now that we don’t want to stretch cold muscles.”
What is a good warm-up?
Research over the last 20 years indicates that warming up is literal, as in increasing your body temperature through movement, according to Marshall.
“…what we’ve looked at with regards to the warm-up is how changes in muscle temperature are directly linked in with explosive performance.”
Strong evidence suggests that a one degree Celsius increase in muscle temperature can increase performance by about 10 percent, he says.
“The way we can increase the temperature of a muscle is what you see in warm-ups are like rhythmic, continuous activities.”
“There might be some jogging, there might be a gradual increase in the intensity of the movement, so some sprinting type work, some game specific work you see, which is really good in the ball skills type sports, where there’s a requirement, you need to be on ball, whether it’s football, whether it’s in the rugby football codes.”
In other words, the warm-up you do should be specific to the sport or activity you are about to do.
When it comes to a gym workout or a boot camp-style strength class like F45, the philosophy is the same, says Brittany McNabb, an Auckland-based personal trainer.
“When a client is warming up, I always kind of remind them that what we’re doing at the start of the session is actually priming the body for movement…”
“…how can you get the muscles that you’re about to work, really activated?”
For example, this could look like doing a few slow and controlled bodyweight squats before you stack yourself with some dumbbells for weighted squats, says McNabb.
If you do group exercise, then you’ve probably noticed that most types – for example, BFT and F45 – will take you through a dynamic movement warm-up, gentle movements that mimic the exercises you are about to do.
Dynamic warm-ups ahead of a strength class could include doing the motion without weights.
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So, stretching is bad?
No stretching is not bad, but it’s not a good idea to do it in your warmup. Marshall and Davie recommend doing static stretches following your workout.
Or, even better, dedicate days in your week between workouts or training sessions to stretching. This could include a pilates or yoga class or a tai chi session, according to Marshall.
“…passive stretching is actually fantastic to do after exercise to reduce that soreness.”
Strength training during your workout week is another piece that can prevent or limit the extent of injury from playing a sport, Marshall says.
Some research suggests that stretching can fatigue or momentarily weaken muscles. Davie is more cautious about framing stretching so negatively
“I wouldn’t say stretching damages muscles unless you overdo it.”
“So overdoing it is, doing stretches when you’re cold, overstretching to a point that you’re not comfortable.”
How did stretching come to be associated with warming up?
SL Benfica’s Angel Di Maria and Auckland City FC’s Haris Zeb at the FIFA Club World Cup in 2025.
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It came about through what Marshall called “bread crumbs” of research, coupled with what felt like intuition – injury is caused by tight muscles, therefore stretching them will loosen everything up.
Over the years, other elements were added to the concept of the warm-up, including strength exercises. However, this was more about coaches and sport bodies theorising that to get people to do these things – stretching and strengthening – it was easiest to incorporate them into the warm up to make compliance easier, says Marshall.
However, as research has accumulated on what constitutes an effective warm-up, these ideas have changed. A major contributor to this was the development of the FIFA 11+ warm-up programme. Numerous studies show it can reduce injuries by more than 30 percent.
The warm-up programme starts with slow running exercises, followed by gentle strength, balance and plyometric exercises (explosive movements like jumping). This is followed by a series of medium to high-speed running exercises.
Research has also looked at rejigging the FIFA 11+, with a 2019 study finding that moving the second phase of the programme (strength, balance and plyometric exercises) following a game didn’t impact the injury prevention and performance benefits. Giving coaches and athletes more flexibility to complete the entire programme before or after play could increase compliance, according to the research paper.
There is no single authority on the ideal warmup, says Marshall. However, he points athletes and exercises towards resources on ACC’s website for evidence-based and sport-specific warmup ideas that can increase performance and potentially decrease injury risk.
