Why a Warm Up before Training is Important
Many people still treat the warm up stepmotherly. And this, although it can have many positive effects on your subsequent training. With the right warm-up exercises, you not only prepare yourself physically, but also mentally for your workout. This way you can develop your full potential during your workout.
Advantages and goals of warm up exercises before training:

You activate muscles, tendons and ligaments and prepare them for the workout.
Your cardiovascular system is gently activated.
Your blood vessels dilate. This improves blood circulation and oxygen supply to your muscles.
The joint cartilage is gently compressed and relaxed again. This increases the production of synovial fluid, which makes the cartilage more resilient and better able to absorb shocks and stresses.
By warming up muscles, tendons and ligaments, they become more elastic and the risk of injury decreases.
An improved coordination, stability and agility.
Movements in training can be performed better.
Improved posture.
Can relieve tension.
Can lead to improved mental focus.
More power can be retrieved during training.
Good 2 know: It has not yet been scientifically proven that a warm up actually prevents injuries. However, this may also be due to the difficulty to prove such an hypothesis scientifically. It is a fact is, however, that you can activate your body with the right warm up and thus achieve better performance during training.

Different Types of Warm Up Exercises
There are many different types of warm up exercises. Maybe you already got different tips how the “perfect” warm up should look like. We’ll be honest with you: there is no one perfect warm up for everyone.

Basically, you can warm up very well with the following methods:

Loose running
Mobility training
Static and dynamic stretching
Light weight exercises
Rope skipping
Cardio exercises with light intensity
The optimal warm up should be specific to your training. For example, a gymnast should warm up very differently than a track and field athlete or a body builder.

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General Full Body Warm Up
For Allround Athletes, we recommend starting with a general full-body warm up that warms up all muscles and joints. This will get your entire circulation going, your blood vessels already dilated and your joint flexibility improved.
Sport specific warm up

Depending on your sport and the exercises on your training program, we recommend additional warm-up exercises.

For example, a gymnast needs special flexibility for various disciplines. Here, intensive, long stretching units of more than 40 seconds are useful as a warm-up.

A strength athlete, on the other hand, wants to exert as much force as possible during his workout. Long, intensive stretching before strength training can demonstrably lead to a slight loss of strength and would therefore not be effective. Short stretching units of 10 to 20 seconds, on the other hand, do not lead to a loss of strength and can therefore be performed without any problems.

For runners and track and field athletes, stretching for too long before training can also have a detrimental effect on training. Here, static and dynamic stretching is often done only briefly before training. Longer stretching sessions are recommended here, especially after training as a cool down to relieve tension in the muscles.

Warm Up exercises for different sports at a glance
Warm up exercises for runners
Running ABC
Loose running
Short stretching of maximum 10 seconds per muscle
Dynamic stretching
Warm Up Exercises for Strength Athletes
Mobility training
Short stretching (max. 10 seconds)
Dynamic stretching
Exercise sets with light weight
Bodyweight exercises
Exercises with resistance bands
Warm Up Exercises for Martial Artists
Loose running
Technique training
Bodyweight exercises
Loose static and dynamic stretching
Warm Up Exercises for Ball Sports
Mobility Training
Dynamic stretching
Running in
Technique sequences
Warm Up Exercises in the Gym
Mobility Training
Loose static and dynamic stretching 10 to 15 minutes warm up on treadmill, cross trainer, rowing ergometer, bicycle, ski ergometer, assault bike, Stairmaster
How Long a Warm Up Should Last
Again, it depends on the sport. Before a run, a shorter warm up of about 5 minutes is sufficient. Martial artists often warm up for 30 minutes or longer. In the gym, 10 to 15 minutes is a good guideline.