Attention Coaches and Players, This Is How You Should Warm Up:

Whether you are working out or preparing for a practice or a game one thing you should never skip out on is a proper warm up.

A proper warm up should be anywhere from 10-15 minutes and should be mainly dynamic.

First you need to think about the purpose as to why we warm up… Increase core temperature to increase enzymatic activity, increase range of motion, activate our muscles, and positive neural effects.

I am a main believer that everything you do in life needs to have a purpose.  So whats the purpose of warming up for baseball?

Purpose: Make decisions based on improvement area (posture, lifestyle, movements to come for baseball).

Posture  and lifestyle: Sitting all day weakens the muscles needed to maintain correct posture, during a warm up it would be beneficial to warm up muscles like our pectoralis major and minor in our chest,  our iliopsoas (hip flexors), and neck flexor muscles.

Movements to come: baseball is rotational so it is important to warm up to increase  range of motion in our hips, shoulders, and thoracic spine.

Also  know the difference between static and dynamic stretching:

• Dynamic: Dynamic stretching is a strategy used to improve mobility while moving through a range-of- motion, often in a manner that looks like the activity or sport that is going to be performed.
• Static: Static stretching is holding a stretch without movement, usually only at the end-range of a muscle. The main goal here is to increase flexibility.

So which is better?

There has been a lot of research on static vs dynamic stretching and it all depends on  how you perform the stretch and how long you perform the stretch. In this research article, which was a systematic review of thousands of other research studies comparing static stretching and maximum muscle performance, shows that the detrimental effects of static stretching are mainly limited to longer durations (≥ 60 s).

So, if you want to increase muscle force production prior to exercise, don’t hold a stretch longer than a minute.

We already know that dynamic stretching is great for being very time efficient prior to activity because it is easy to hit multiple muscle groups with one stretch  compared to static being isolated on one muscle group. It is also great for increases range of motion in the desired muscle to increase muscle force production.

Lastly, it is very beneficial to activate muscles  of the core, trunk, glutes prior to exercise or sport. Activating these muscles basically wakes them up and tells our nervous system to help us complete the task at hand. These areas have high importance to help us rotate, push off the rubber, or carry out tasks needed to play any sport.

 

Example Warm up:

Dynamic Mobility:

(In a line)

Walking:

Knee grabs, Quad pulls, Lunge elbow to instep to hamstring extension, side lunges, frankensteins, hip hurdles

(Spread out)

Torso rotations, Squat to overhead reach, T-spine rotations, 90-90 hip rotations, Calf stretch, arm circles, 90-90 shoulder rotations, forearm/ wrist curls

Glute/ pillar activation:

(Spread out)

Glute Bridges, Plank,  Scap pushups

Movement prep:

(Back in lines)

Lunge with rotation, Bear crawls (slow and core tight)

Neural Activation:

(In Lines)

High knees, side shuffle, sprint (Steal base)

 

Extra:

In addition to dynamic stretching, foam rolling or using a lacrosse ball to roll out before activity has been found to increase muscle flexibility and strength and would be recommended for athletes.

 

Citations:

Kay AD, Blazevich AJ. Effect of acute static stretch on maximal muscle performance: a systematic review. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2012 Jan;44(1):154-64. doi: 10.1249/MSS.0b013e318225cb27. PMID: 21659901.

Su H, Chang NJ, Wu WL, Guo LY, Chu IH. Acute Effects of Foam Rolling, Static Stretching, and Dynamic Stretching During Warm-ups on Muscular Flexibility and Strength in Young Adults. J Sport Rehabil. 2017 Nov;26(6):469-477. doi: 10.1123/jsr.2016-0102. Epub 2016 Oct 13. PMID: 27736289.