February 6, 2016

Don't stretch to warm-up before exercise.

At least no the way most of us were taught. The best way to prepare for your favorite sport or activity is to get your blood moving with light cardio, followed by dynamic stretching. 

Dynamic stretching is slowly moving through a range of motion slowly, contracting the muscles opposite of those your lengthening. Starting with small movements and moving onto larger full body ones. Eventually, you'll do movements specific to your sport or activity.

The NY Times has a great article on this:

http://mobile.nytimes.com/2008/11/02/sports/playmagazine/112pewarm.html?mwrsm=Facebook&_r=1&referer=http%3A%2F%2Fm.facebook.com

Here's a good video demonstrating some movements:
http://www.nytimes.com/video/sports/playmagazine/1194830066044/stretching-the-truth.html