Warm-Up & Cool-Down Structure

Does warming up work? Yes, for performance. Fradkin, Zazryn and Smoliga (2010) pooled 32 high-quality studies and found that a warm-up improved performance in 79% of the measures examined. They found little evidence that it does harm.

Stage 1: general warm-up (5–10 minutes). Easy aerobic work (bike, rower, brisk walk) raises body and muscle temperature, heart rate and breathing before harder work (see General (Aerobic) Warm-Up).

Stage 2: specific warm-up. This is movement prep that looks like the session ahead (see Specific (Exercise Movement) Warm-Up):

• Dynamic mobility and activation drills for the joints you're about to load (see Dynamic Warm-Up (Mobility-as-Training)).
• Ramp-up sets of your first big lift. Do a few lighter sets with falling reps, working up to your first working set (example below). They rehearse the pattern and let you check how the load feels today.

Coaches often summarise this as RAMP: Raise, Activate and Mobilise, then Potentiate. It's a practitioner model from strength coach Ian Jeffreys, not a tested protocol, but it maps neatly onto the two stages.

Static stretching before lifting: the real size of the effect. Behm et al. (2016) reviewed the acute effects of stretching:

• Static stretching immediately before testing lowered performance by about 3.7% on average.
• The dose mattered. Holding stretches under 60 seconds per muscle cost about 1.1%; 60 seconds or more cost about 4.6%.
• When dynamic activity came after the stretching, as in a real warm-up, no clear performance effect remained.
• Dynamic stretching gave a small improvement (about +1.3%).

So the old "never static stretch before lifting" rule is too strong. Keep holds short and finish with dynamic work and ramp-up sets (see Static Stretching Before Lifting — Acute Power/Strength Impairment).

Cool-down. Van Hooren and Peake (2018) reviewed active cool-downs (easy movement after training) against simply stopping. Active cool-downs:

• Clear lactate from the blood faster, and may help heart rate and breathing settle sooner.
• Do not reduce muscle soreness, prevent injuries, or reliably improve next-day performance.
• Don't appear to harm long-term adaptation.

So a cool-down is optional. Many people still like 5 minutes of easy movement after hard intervals, or use the time for static stretching while warm (see Static Stretching, Warm-Up & Cool-Down for Cardio).

Scale it to the session. A heavy single or a jumping session deserves a thorough specific warm-up. An easy session needs little.

• Lifters who want a warm-up that takes 10–15 minutes, not 30.
• Anyone who has heard "never static stretch before lifting" and wants the actual evidence.
• People deciding whether a cool-down is worth their time.

• Performance, not proof of injury prevention. Fradkin 2010 measured performance. Behm 2016 found stretching had no clear effect on overall or overuse injuries, and there were no data on dynamic stretching and injury.
• Effects are short-lived. Stretching-related range gains typically lasted under 30 minutes (Behm 2016), so do your mobility work just before you need it.
• Pain is different. If a joint hurts during the warm-up, a longer warm-up isn't the fix; get it assessed.
• The ramp-up set scheme below is a common coaching template, not a tested protocol.

Marcus's squat day. His first working sets are 3 × 5 at 100 kg.

1. General (6 min): easy rowing, building to a light sweat.
2. Dynamic prep (4 min):
   • Leg swings, 10 each direction per leg.
   • Bodyweight squats with a 2-second pause at the bottom, ×8.
   • Glute bridges ×10 (demo: Glute Bridge in the Fysiqal media library).
3. Optional: 20–30 s static hip-flexor stretch per side, because his hips feel tight. That's under 60 s per muscle, with dynamic work still to come.
4. Ramp-up sets on the Back Squat:
   • Empty bar × 8
   • 50 kg × 5
   • 70 kg × 3
   • 85 kg × 2
   • 95 kg × 1
5. Working sets: 100 kg × 5 × 3, then the rest of the session.
6. Cool-down: he skips it on lifting days. After hard interval days he walks for 5 minutes because he likes how it feels.

Next lesson: Dynamic Warm-Up (Mobility-as-Training). Build out the dynamic-prep part with drills matched to your session.

• A warm-up improved performance in 79% of measures across 32 studies (Fradkin 2010).
• Structure: 5–10 min general cardio, then dynamic prep and ramp-up sets of the first lift.
• Static stretching costs ~1% under 60 s per muscle and ~4.6% at 60 s or more, with no clear cost when dynamic activity follows (Behm 2016).
• Dynamic stretching gave a small performance boost (~+1.3%).
• Active cool-downs don't reduce soreness or prevent injury; they're optional (Van Hooren & Peake 2018).