April 03, 2016 By Emily Beers (updated April 2026)

Every athlete knows they should warm up, but knowing something and doing it are not the same thing, especially when it does not feel as productive as hard intervals, heavy lifts, or race efforts. A few arm swings, a light jog, or one practice rep may save ten minutes at the start, but it can cost far more in performance once the session begins.

Proper warm-ups help lessen delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS) and research on warm-ups consistently shows they can improve performance, reduce injury risk, and help athletes feel more prepared across a wide range of sports, with the strongest results coming when the warm-up matches the movements, intensity, and demands of what comes next.

Why the Warm-Up Gets Neglected

Brandon Peterson is the owner of CrossFit Free and the founder of Complete Athletic Performance. He's coached athletes from the gym floor all the way to the Games, and to say he believes in a good warm-up is a serious understatement.

"I truly believe the difference between folks who are great in this sport and those who get injured all the time is a lot about warm-ups and cool-downs," Peterson said.

The biggest mistake he sees? Athletes simply are not doing enough of it. 

And while Peterson coaches CrossFit, the same pattern shows up in every athletic setting. The runner does a quick 200-metre jog and calls it ready. The cyclist clips in cold zips on a gilet and figures the first few kilometres will sort it out. The swimmer hops in the water, does one lap easy, and hits their first hard interval already wondering why they feel flat.

"Warm-up isn't sexy," Peterson said. "You don't get brownie points for a cool warm-up. People want to get to the sexy stuff — the fun. They want the clock to go '3, 2, 1, Go.'"

The other common mistake is athletes thinking they'll burn out before the real effort even starts, saving their legs for the race, or their reps for the WOD.

"I often see people who say they don't want to do a certain movement beforehand because they don't want to use up the reps they have," Peterson said. "This doesn't make any sense, though. It's not the way it works."

Peterson has seen the proof repeatedly in practice: athletes who commit to a solid warm-up move more efficiently, stay injury-free, and perform better.

"We've proven it. Maybe not scientifically with an academic study yet, but I have given people a Fran workout, then told them to rest 10 minutes and go work up to a 1RM back squat, and people PR. And they say, 'I don't understand, my legs are fried.' And I say, 'Yeah, but you're finally warmed up.'"

Science backs him up broadly. Structured warm-up programs have been shown to reduce sports injury rates by 36% across multiple sports. Those aren't hypothetical gains, that's the difference between finishing a season strong or sitting it out.

So, What Is the “Ideal Warm-Up”?

Peterson said in an ideal world, athletes would warm-up for a full 45 minutes.

He knows that is unrealistic for most people, especially lifestyle athletes who want to be in and out of the gym in 1 hour, so during his group classes he keeps warm-ups to 20 minutes.

Whatever your sport, he believes the structure should look roughly the same.

Start with dynamic movement to get blood flowing. The goal is to open and close the major joints in your body at a talking pace, not a race pace.

Follow with monostructural work to elevate your heart rate: rowing, running, biking, or swimming. "I always recommend 10 minutes of constant movement," Peterson said. "That's just the time frame I have found seems to work well."

Then move into your workout-specific warm-up. This is where athletes of all disciplines start to diverge, and where understanding your sport's demands becomes critical.

That is the thinking behind the modern RAMP model:

• Raise: Increase heart rate and core temperature with easy movement.

• Activate: Switch on the muscles most involved in the session.

• Mobilize: Move through the ranges of motion your sport requires.

• Potentiate: Add speed, power, or heavier efforts to prepare for performance.

The final step is where warm-ups become specific.

A runner might use strides before a 5K, waking up the fast-twitch fibres so they're already firing when the gun goes off, not playing catch-up for the first kilometre. A cyclist might include short hard efforts before a time trial. A lifter might build through progressive sets before a heavy attempt.

The Static Stretching Problem

Long static stretches immediately before training or competition are rarely the best option. They can reduce force, power, sprint speed, and explosive output, especially when held for longer durations in isolation.

This doesn’t mean static stretching has no place in your routine. But before training or competition, dynamic stretching that moves joints through full ranges of motion is usually the better option.

Matching Your Warm-Up to Your Energy Systems

Cam Birtwell, owner of CrossFit Vic City and an exercise physiology coach, believes warming up is more art than science.

“Ask any five coaches how to warm up for an event and you'll likely get five answers,” he said.

What matters most, he argues, is matching the warm-up to the demands of the effort ahead.

For short, intense efforts, the warm-up should be more aggressive. Faster events rely on rapid, forceful contractions, so the body needs exposure to speed and power before the start. That can mean short bursts of race-pace movement with full recovery between efforts.

For medium-length efforts, the goal shifts toward rhythm and sustainable tempo. Here, controlled efforts closer to planned race pace help prepare both the aerobic and anaerobic systems.

For longer efforts, the emphasis is pacing and getting the aerobic system online early. A gradual build in intensity with a few efforts at goal pace helps avoid the sluggish opening minutes many athletes know too well.

Competition day adds the element of timing. If you warm up too early, the benefits begin to fade. If you finish closer to the start, or add a brief re-activation just before go time, that’s ideal.

Whether you're elite or recreational, warming up is not separate from performance. It is part of it. 

Warm up well, and you give yourself a better chance to perform at your best.

If you learned something new from this article and are curious to know more, head to the Blonyx Blog or our growing list of weekly research summaries where we help you further improve your athletic performance by keeping you up to date on the latest findings from the world of sports nutrition.

– That’s all for now, train hard!

 

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