Your P.E. Teacher Was Right: Warmups Work

You Should Know: Your elementary school gym teachers were onto something when they made you do jumping jacks and toe touches before running the mile. Turns out, warming up isn’t just for funsies, or even injury prevention alone — it can actually improve your workout performance.

Going Deeper: Pre-workout or pre-competition warmups have a longstanding reputation of minimizing injury risk, especially during hard-hitting sessions. By and large, that’s true. Warming up increases blood flow, lubricates the joints, and generally prepares the body to handle more demanding tasks. Now, researchers point to warmups as performance enhancers, too. Evidently, when muscle temperature raises, said muscle becomes capable of contracting quicker and more forcefully, leading to increased power output. 

Takeaway: This has big implications for those who enjoy power-based activities, like Olympic weightlifting or sprinting. Even if your workouts verge on the casual side, a solid warmup can still help you hit a new PR. 

Bottom Line: “Practicing” your workout, like doing squats with a lighter weight before packing on the plates, is a simple and effective way to mitigate injury risk and perform better in the gym.