Training guide
A good warm-up takes 5 to 10 minutes: easy movement that gets you warm, a few moving stretches, and 1 or 2 lighter sets of your first exercise. It helps the session go better. Long static stretches aren't needed, and stretching doesn't prevent injuries.
What does prevent injuries is a structured warm-up with strength, balance, jumping and landing drills, mainly in team sports. This guide covers what a warm-up does, how much stretching is fine, warm-up sets, warming up for running and sport, and whether you need a cool-down, with a 10-minute routine to follow.
A warm-up raises your body and muscle temperature, rehearses the movements you're about to do and eases you into effort. In short efforts, performance rises about 2 to 5% for every 1°C rise in muscle temperature, and across 32 studies a warm-up improved performance in most of the tests used.
For most gym or home workouts, our plans use 3 to 5 minutes of easy movement, a few moving stretches, then 1 or 2 lighter sets of your first exercise. The NHS warm-up routine takes at least 6 minutes.
Holding a stretch for under a minute per muscle costs about 1 to 2% of strength or power at most, and nothing measurable once you move afterwards; a minute or more costs more. You don't need to stretch at all: other warm-up activities, such as cycling or jogging, raise your range of movement just as much.
Before heavy lifting, lighter sets of the exercise you're about to do are the most useful part of a warm-up. With lighter, high-rep sets, the first few reps of the set do most of the warming up.
Stretching before exercise doesn't prevent injuries. Structured warm-ups with strength, balance, jumping and landing drills do, in team sports: the FIFA 11+ warm-up cut football injuries by about a third, and similar programmes halve injuries to the ACL (anterior cruciate ligament, a key knee ligament). Most of that evidence comes from female athletes.
Easing off lets your heart rate and breathing settle, but cool-downs and stretching afterwards don't prevent soreness or injury or improve the next day's performance. Stretch afterwards if you want more flexibility.
Most of a warm-up's effects come from warmer muscles: they are less stiff, nerves carry signals faster and energy is released more quickly. In short efforts, performance rises about 2 to 5% for every 1°C rise in muscle temperature. An active warm-up also gets your breathing and circulation going and can leave you feeling more ready.
Any warm-up activity loosens you up for a while, and stretching and foam rolling do it no better than cycling, jogging or strength exercises. The extra range typically lasts less than 30 minutes.
A general warm-up is easy whole-body movement, such as walking, marching or cycling, that raises your heart rate and temperature; one review describes 5 to 15 minutes of light to moderate activity. A specific warm-up is a lighter rehearsal of the exact movement you're about to do, such as lighter sets of your first lift.
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Static stretching means holding a position where you feel the stretch. Dynamic stretching means moving through your range repeatedly without holding, such as leg swings or walking lunges. Ballistic stretching is faster, less controlled bouncing at the end of your range. These are the definitions agreed by a panel of 20 stretching researchers.
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Across 32 high-quality studies, a warm-up improved performance in 79% of the tests used, with little sign of harm. Few of these were true randomised trials. Most of the gain is thought to come from warmer muscles.
In a review of 106 studies, stretches held for under 30 seconds made no meaningful difference to maximal strength or power (about 1.1% lower on average), and 30 to 45 seconds made no significant difference either (1.9%). Losses became likely at 60 seconds or more per muscle. Two other reviews put the cost at about 1 to 2% for short stretches, against about 4 to 7.5% for a minute or more.
Most studies tested performance 3 to 5 minutes after stretching, with nothing in between. When dynamic movement followed the stretching, as it does in a real warm-up, no clear loss was seen.
In a recommendation with 95% agreement, a panel of 20 stretching researchers advises against holding a stretch for more than 60 seconds per muscle before maximal or explosive efforts, and says short static stretches inside a dynamic warm-up, and dynamic stretching, don't cause those losses. Each of the panel's recommendations needed at least 80% agreement.
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Moving through your range without holding gave a small performance gain, about 1.3%, when done within minutes of the activity.
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Across 38 studies (1,134 people), stretching and foam rolling gave no more short-term range or loosening than other warm-up activities. The expert panel lists cycling, jogging, strength exercises, heat and vibration among them, and calls stretching in a warm-up "not essential", though a viable option.
Static stretching gave a small benefit (about 2.2%) for performance at long muscle lengths, which matters in activities that need big ranges, such as dance, gymnastics or high kicks. For a quick gain in range, the expert panel suggests at least 2 holds of 5 to 30 seconds.
Doses name the NHS or our plans, or say they are our suggestion. Moves and a follow-along routine are further down the page.
March, step jacks or jumping jacks, or easy cycling, rowing or walking. The NHS routine starts with 3 minutes of marching; our plans use 3 to 5 minutes of easy movement. You should feel warm and breathe a little faster, not tired.
Moving stretches for the joints you're about to use: leg swings, hip and shoulder circles, the world's greatest stretch, inchworms. Our editorial starting point is 3 to 5 moves, a few slow reps each.
Light reps of the patterns you're about to load: bodyweight squats, lunges and hip hinges before a lower-body session; band pull-aparts and scapular push-ups before pressing or pulling.
Then 1 or 2 lighter sets of your first exercise before your work sets. The next section shows how.
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If a muscle feels tight, or your sport needs big ranges, our editorial starting point is 2 holds of 15 to 30 seconds, keeping the total under a minute per muscle, then keep moving. (The expert panel's minimum for a quick gain in range is 2 holds of 5 to 30 seconds.) Avoid longer holds before sprinting, jumping or a heavy lift.
Our suggestion: walk briskly for a few minutes, then jog easily. Before faster runs, add moving drills such as walking lunges, skips and gentle hops: our runner's warm-up takes about 8 minutes. Warm-ups haven't been shown to prevent running injuries, so this is about starting comfortably and running well.
Use a neuromuscular warm-up as the warm-up itself: 10 to 30 minutes of jumping and landing, strength, balance, mobility and agility drills, 2 to 3 times a week (Exercise and Sport Science Australia). Our knee control warm-up uses the same parts.
Optional. Rolling before exercise doesn't hurt performance, but it gives no more range than other warm-up activities. If you like it, use the doses on our fascia page: 1 to 3 rounds of 30 to 120 seconds per area, at a moderate pressure.
The NHS routine of marching, heel digs, knee lifts, shoulder rolls and shallow knee bends suits all levels. Get advice first if you have a health problem, an injury or symptoms, or are pregnant or have recently given birth. If new symptoms appear as you do more, see a healthcare professional.
A review of time-efficient training found exercise-specific warm-ups most useful before heavy lifting, above about 80% of your maximum. A review of 31 trials found strong evidence that warm-ups with heavier loads improve upper-body strength and power. In one study, neither a general nor a specific warm-up changed how many reps people managed in sets at 80% of their maximum taken to failure.
Our editorial starting point: about half your working weight for 8 reps, then about three-quarters for 3, then your work sets. Before heavy sets of 5 reps or fewer, add a third, heavier ramp-up set. This mirrors the warm-up used before strength tests in a small study (8 reps at about 50% of maximum, then 3 at about 70%). With lighter, high-rep sets, the first few reps of the set warm you up.
In 13 trained people, adding 20 minutes of easy cycling before the specific warm-up raised their leg-press maximum by 8.4%. It is one small study, and most sessions don't test a maximum.
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In a review of 25 trials (26,610 people), stretching programmes did not lower injury rates, while strength training cut injuries to under a third. Stretching before training didn't reduce injuries in 1,538 army recruits over 12 weeks, and a Cochrane review found no evidence that stretching prevents running injuries.
Early evidence suggests static stretching may reduce muscle strains in sports with sprinting and changes of direction, but in the same studies bone and joint injuries went up. The expert panel doesn't recommend stretching for injury prevention in general.
In a trial of 1,892 girls aged 13 to 17 playing football, teams using the FIFA 11+ warm-up for a season had 32% fewer injuries overall, 45% fewer severe injuries and 53% fewer overuse injuries; the main outcome, leg injuries, fell 29% but not significantly. Across 4 trials, FIFA 11+ cut football injuries by 39%. In youth sport, neuromuscular training cut leg injuries by about a third (25 studies).
ACL prevention programmes halve ACL injuries and cut non-contact ACL injuries in female athletes by two-thirds. The effective ones combine jumping, strength, balance, mobility and agility work for 10 to 30 minutes, 2 to 3 times a week. There is too little data on men to judge.
About 20 minutes once learnt: 8 minutes of running drills at an easy pace, 10 minutes of planks, side planks, Nordic hamstring lowers, single-leg balance, squats and jumps at one of three levels, then 2 minutes of faster running with changes of direction. In the trial, the players who did it most often had 35% fewer injuries than those who did it a moderate amount.
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Across 9 trials (1,904 runners), exercise-based prevention programmes didn't reduce running injuries, though supervised ones might. A programme of warm-up, cool-down and stretching education didn't reduce injuries in a 16-week trial of 421 male runners either. Most of the trials are of low quality, so the honest answer is that we don't know.
A review found active cool-downs largely ineffective for performance later the same day or the next day, not shown to prevent injuries, and mostly no help for soreness. They clear lactate from the blood faster, may help your heart rate and breathing return to normal, and don't hold back your long-term progress.
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Across 12 studies, stretching before or after exercise reduced next-day soreness by about 1 point or less on a 100-point scale. Across 10 pooled trials (229 people), stretching after exercise didn't speed the recovery of strength either. The expert panel, with 100% agreement, does not recommend stretching as a recovery routine.
Our editorial starting point: 3 to 5 minutes of easy movement after hard cardio. If flexibility is your goal, stretch afterwards while you're warm, when stretching works best: the NHS cool-down holds each stretch for 15 to 20 seconds, and the American College of Sports Medicine suggests 10 to 30 seconds, repeated 2 to 4 times, on 2 or 3 days a week.
Do 2 to 5 minutes of any of these at an easy pace, enough to feel warm but not tired: step jacks have no impact, and the bike and rower suit the gym.
Pick 3 to 5 for the joints you're about to use and do a few slow reps of each, for example 8 leg swings each leg, 2 slow hip circles each leg or 3 world's greatest stretches each side (our suggestion, from the site's warm-ups).
3D demoFront-to-back leg swingsBeginner · A wall
3D demoStanding hip CARsBeginner · A wall
3D demoWorld's Greatest StretchIntermediate · No equipment
3D demoInchworm walkoutIntermediate · No equipment
3D demoShoulder CARs (controlled articular rotations)Beginner · No equipment
3D demoThoracic rotationBeginner · No equipment
3D demoWalking lungeIntermediate · No equipmentDo light reps of the patterns you're about to load, such as 10 squats, 8 hinges or 15 band pull-aparts (doses from our plans), then your ramp-up sets.
These are the ingredients of FIFA 11+ and ACL prevention warm-ups, for example 3 planks of 20 to 30 seconds, 3 to 5 Nordic lowers (expect sore hamstrings at first) and 2 single-leg holds of 30 seconds on each leg (FIFA 11+ level 1).
3D demoForearm plankIntermediate · No equipment
3D demoSide plankIntermediate · No equipment
3D demoNordic curlAdvanced · An anchor point
3D demoSingle-leg standBeginner · A wall
3D demoSnapdown to athletic landingBeginner · No equipment
3D demoSingle-leg hop and stickIntermediate · No equipment
3D demoPogo hopsIntermediate · No equipmentBefore a session, use 2 holds of 15 to 30 seconds and keep it under a minute in total per muscle (our suggestion, within the expert panel's advice); after a session, hold longer if you're working on flexibility.
Use the 10-minute dynamic warm-up before gym or home workouts, the runner's warm-up before runs and the knee control warm-up 2 to 3 times a week if your sport involves sprinting, cutting and landing; the stretch routines are optional cool-downs.
A 10-minute warm-up for any workout: raise your heart rate, move each joint through its range, rehearse the main movements, then ramp up to your first lift.
10 minBeginner12 movesA wall, A bandAn 8-minute dynamic warm-up for runners: ankle and hip mobility, lunges, skips and pogo hops.
8 minIntermediate8 movesA wallA 20-minute warm-up that trains your knees to track over your toes: side-hip strength, squats and lunges with alignment practice, balance and quiet landings.
20 minBeginner10 movesA wall, A bandSeven stretches for after a run: calves, soleus, quads, hip flexors, hamstrings and glutes.
10 minBeginner7 movesA wallA 15-minute head-to-toe stretch for the neck, shoulders, back, hips, hamstrings and calves.
15 minBeginner11 movesA wallStop exercising and call 999 (911 in the US) if:
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The NHS says to stop exercising straight away if you feel any pain or become unwell, and to contact NHS 111 if symptoms worry you or don't go away. If a joint pain is sharp, gets worse during a set or lingers into the next day, use the move's easier option, and see a clinician if it persists (our plans' rule).
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Get advice from a healthcare professional, such as a GP, before you start if:
In a review of 25 trials, stretching programmes didn't lower injury rates, and stretching before training didn't reduce injuries in 1,538 army recruits. What prevents injuries in sport is a structured warm-up with strength, balance, jumping and landing work.
Holds under 60 seconds per muscle cost about 1 to 2% at most, and nothing measurable when you move afterwards. The bigger losses come with a minute or more.
No trial shows it. Trials found no effect on overall injury risk either way, and the expert panel says short static stretches inside a warm-up are very unlikely to cause problems.
Other warm-up activities raise your range just as much, and the expert panel calls stretching "not essential" in a warm-up.
Partly true for light, high-rep sets, where the first reps warm you up. Before heavy lifting, lighter sets of the exercise help strength and power and let you practise the movement.
Active cool-downs mostly don't reduce soreness, and stretching afterwards reduced it by about 1 point or less on a 100-point scale.
Start with 2 to 5 minutes of easy movement that gets you warm, such as marching, step jacks or an easy bike. Then do a few moving stretches for the joints you're about to use, rehearse the main movements without weight, and finish with 1 or 2 lighter sets of your first exercise. Our 10-minute dynamic warm-up does all of this.
For most gym or home workouts, 5 to 10 minutes is enough; the NHS routine takes at least 6 minutes. Warm-ups designed to prevent injuries in team sports take longer, about 10 to 30 minutes, and are done as the warm-up 2 to 3 times a week.
You don't need to: stretching gives no more short-term range than other warm-up activities and doesn't prevent injuries. If a muscle feels tight, a short stretch is fine. Keep it under a minute per muscle and follow it with some moving exercises.
Not in short doses. Holding a stretch for under 60 seconds per muscle costs about 1 to 2% of strength or power at most, and nothing measurable once you do some dynamic movement afterwards. Longer holds, a minute or more per muscle, can reduce strength and power by around 4 to 7%, so save those for after the session.
Dynamic stretching means moving a joint through its range repeatedly without holding, such as leg swings or walking lunges. Before exercise it gave a small performance boost in studies, while long static holds can reduce strength and power, so dynamic moves suit a warm-up better. Static stretching is the better tool for building flexibility over weeks, ideally after exercise when you're warm.
For heavy lifting, yes: lighter sets of the exercise you're about to do are the most useful part of a warm-up. A simple ramp is about half your working weight for 8 reps, then about three-quarters for 3. With lighter, high-rep sets, the first few reps of the set do most of the warming up.
A general warm-up hasn't been shown to prevent injuries in the gym or in running, and stretching before exercise doesn't. Structured warm-ups with strength, balance, jumping and landing drills do work in team sports: the FIFA 11+ cut football injuries by about a third, and similar programmes halve ACL knee injuries, mostly studied in female athletes.
Walk briskly for a few minutes, then jog easily for a few more. Before faster running, add some moving drills such as walking lunges, skips and gentle hops: our runner's warm-up takes about 8 minutes. Research hasn't shown that warm-ups prevent running injuries, so think of it as a way to start comfortably and run better.
No. Easing off for a few minutes after hard cardio lets your heart rate and breathing settle gradually, but cool-downs don't prevent soreness or injury, or improve how you perform the next day. If you have time, use it for stretching if you want more flexibility.
After a workout is a good time to work on flexibility, because your muscles are warm. It won't reduce next-day soreness or speed your recovery. The NHS cool-down holds each stretch for 15 to 20 seconds; for flexibility, the American College of Sports Medicine suggests holding each stretch for 10 to 30 seconds and repeating it 2 to 4 times.
You can, but you don't need to. Rolling loosens you up for a short while and doesn't hurt performance, but it does no more than any other warm-up activity. If you like it, 30 to 120 seconds per area at a moderate pressure is enough.
It is a 20-minute warm-up for football with three parts: running drills at an easy pace, then strength, balance and jumping exercises such as planks, Nordic hamstring lowers and single-leg balance, then faster running with changes of direction. In a trial of nearly 1,900 young female players, teams using it had about a third fewer injuries. Our knee control warm-up uses the same ingredients.
Exercise education, not a personal prescription, and clinical review of these guides is pending. Check with a GP before starting hard training if you have a heart condition, chest pain, dizziness or breathlessness when active, and stop for sharp or increasing pain. Health disclaimer.
