How long does my warm up need to be?

Do you really need a long warm-up before every workout? 🤔

In this video, we look at the science behind warm-ups — what they actually do for your body, what the research says about injury prevention, and why short, specific warm-ups are often just as effective as long, complex routines.

We’ll cover:
✅ The physiology of warm-ups — how raising muscle temperature and activating your nervous system improves performance.
✅ What the research says about injury risk and why general warm-ups aren’t strongly linked to injury prevention.
✅ The difference between dynamic and static stretching — and how static stretching can actually reduce short-term strength output.
✅ How to warm up efficiently using task-specific activation and lighter sets of your main movement.

💡 Spoiler: You don’t need a 20-minute mobility circuit to stay safe or lift well — a few focused minutes of dynamic prep is plenty.

🔬 The Science Behind It

Warm-ups do increase performance readiness by improving neuromuscular activation, joint mobility, and enzyme activity in your muscles. But studies like Fradkin et al. (2006) and Finnoff et al. (2023) show that these benefits don’t automatically translate into fewer injuries.

Structured neuromuscular warm-ups (like the FIFA 11+ program) have shown injury reduction in youth athletes (Silva et al., 2022), but for most adults in the gym, a short, targeted warm-up is enough to prepare your body without adding unnecessary fatigue.

Dynamic movements outperform static stretching for performance, with Behm & Chaouachi (2011) showing that static stretching can reduce strength by 5–10% when performed pre-training.

📚 References

Fradkin AJ et al. (2006). Effects of warming-up on physical performance: a systematic review with meta-analysis. J Strength Cond Res.

Silva JR et al. (2022). The preventive effect of warm-up exercises for sports injury among children and adolescents: an umbrella review. Front Pediatr.

Herman K et al. (2012). Effectiveness of neuromuscular warm-up strategies for injury prevention. BMC Med.

McCrary JM et al. (2015). Effect of warm-up on upper body injury prevention and performance. J Sci Med Sport.

Behm DG & Chaouachi A (2011). Acute effects of static and dynamic stretching on performance. Eur J Appl Physiol.

Finnoff JT et al. (2023). Warm-up and stretching in sport injury prevention: separating fact from fiction. Sports Med.

Shellock FG & Prentice WE (1985). Warming-up and stretching for improved performance and injury prevention. Sports Med.

🙌 About This Channel

Hi, I’m Hope — a fitness professional with 8 years of experience. I create science-based fitness content to help you train smarter, understand your body better, and cut through myths that cause confusion.

I believe in body autonomy, evidence-based training, and empowering people to make informed choices about their health and wellbeing — not chasing unsustainable goals or pseudoscience.

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