What's the purpose of the dynamic warm-up?

• send blood to your muscles, connective tissues (ligaments & tendons)

• prevent injury

• prepare your nervous system physically 

• prepare you mentally for the practice/game 

• increase dynamic range of motion (specifically useful for team sports) 

• strength training (for beginner athletes)

PS. Static stretches are no longer found in warm-ups because they don't send blood to the muscles and don't raise our body temperature.

How long should a dynamic warm-up last?

A dynamic warm-up can last 5-20 minutes. The duration of the warm-up depends on the activity that directly follows the warm-up.  For example, if practice is going to start with dribbling drills that are not full-effort, then the dribbling can actually be used as a warm-up. However, if you are planning to have a workout with all-out 40 yard sprints, then you better make sure that the athletes are physically prepared and you'll be getting closer to the 15-20 minute warm-up range. 

Keep in mind that you don't want your athletes to get physically tired from your warm-up, but merely want them to be have been sweating towards the end of the warm-up. Also, if you want your athletes to be present and prevent boredom, you can switch your exercises every month or so.

How many reps, sets and exercises should I perform?

Typically you could do each exercise for about 20 yards or 10 reps for one set. I'm a fan of variety, so I'd rather throw in more exercises instead of multiple sets of the same exercise. As a rule of thumb, I would choose 7-9 exercises from each section. I personally run a timer and after about 7-9 minutes for each section. I look at the athletes and can tell from their sweating and breathing whether they're locked in and ready to go.

What is the structure of a dynamic warm-up?

There are 2 parts to the dynamic warm-up: 

1. Range of Motion/Activation (slower movements) [5-7 minutes]

   • Exercises are slower and not abrupt.  You should be able to roll out of bed and do these, without worrying about muscles pulls.  For efficiency purposes, it is common to see various exercises bundled together in a single rep.

2. Neural Readiness (fast movements) [5-10 minutes]. 

   • These exercises are the fast, explosive and abrupt ones.  The limbs are starting to move fast in these exercises.

3. (BONUS) If I have plenty of time, I'll add a Ballistics/Plyometrics section. Note that athletes should already be warmed-up after parts 1 & 2, and part 3 is effectively strength & explosive work.

What exercises should be done in a dynamic warm-up?

A dynamic warm-up with strength (Part 3) typically lasts 20 minutes.  

Range of Motion/Activation Exercises (Part 1)

• Knee Pull => Lunge => Twist

• Waiter's Bow =>Quad Stretch =>Calf Raise

• Deep Squat & Groin Stretch

• Side Lunge/Hamstring Stretch

• Stork Stretch (Straight Leg into RDL)

• Standing Piriformis Stretch

• Hurdle (over, over, under, under)

• Spiderman Lunge

• Inch Worm

• Crab Walk

• Walk on Toes, Heels, Outside of Feet, Inside of Feet (basketball)

• Hip Turn into Cross-over

• Running with Arm circles

• Monkey Shuffle

• Neck Rolls/Circles: Neck, Hip, Knee, Ankle, Arm

• March

• Jog

• Jumping Jacks

Neural Readiness  (Part 2)

• Track Warm-Up: ABCs (see video below)

• Skip (Quick, Long, High)

• Lateral shuffle (Defensive Slide)

• Crossover Run (High leg crossover)

• Carioca

• Runioca

• Ice Skater

• Lateral Skip

• Backwards Skips

• Crossover Skip

• Opposite Arm Opposite Leg Single Stride

• Wall Drill (for acceleration & knee drive)

• Arm Pumping

• High Knee (fast)

• Butt Kicks (fast)

Ballistic/Plyometric Work & A Great Track Warm-Up (Part 3)

• Ankle Drill (Fast Feet - Ankling, Quick Feet)

• Ankle Bounce (2 foot Pogo)

• Skippings (3/4 High Knees - Fast)

• High Knee Running (Slower High Knees - Distance)

• Foreleg Extension Marching (Bicycles)

• Straight Leg Running (Stay on toes)

• High Knee Bounce Skips (2 foot landing)

• Bounding

• Pawback

• Leg Swings

Finally, the aforementioned exercises are just ones that I've found useful. There are dozens of other exercises that are just as effective or possibly even more effective. Feel free to let me know what your favorites are and why.

ABC Running Drills (part 3)

Here is a phenomenal video on ABC running Drills for Ballistic and Plyometric. Many of the exercises listed above have been pulled from this video.