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Stay ConnectedThese videos teach the fundamentals of a dynamic warm up. Dynamic Warm Ups involve movement, rather than static stretching, to prepare your body for what you will actually do in the upcoming workout, utilizing activity or sport specific movements. Dynamic warm ups also target areas of the body that tend to be tight or locked down: the goal is to open them up so they are able to load and unload your body weight safely and efficiently.
Because life and sport happen in all three planes, we need to warm up and train in all three planes of motion. These dynamic warm ups use a matrix system, where we tweak different fundamental movements in all three planes. For a general dynamic warm up, we focus on getting proper motion in the foot/ankle, hips and thoracic spine. We use different body parts as what we’ll call drivers, to drive the body through movement.
We have classified the movements based on the number of points of contact, or external stability. Level 1 movements have 3 points of contact, such as two hands on the wall and one foot on the ground, while the other foot is used as a driver. Level 2 movements have just 2 points of contact: typically two feet on the ground using the upper body and arms as drivers. Level 3 movements will have one or no points of contact. These activities include some sort of locomotion, or flight phase, like lunging, running, or shuffling. The final level, four, incorporates some type of overload with these movements, such as driving a dumbbell with the arms. A well- designed Dynamic Warm Up uses a combination of different levels, while tweaking in all three planes of motion, to address movement through the foot/ankle, hips, and thoracic spine.
These Dynamic Warm Ups start by isolating each target area, using all three planes of motion. Examples of each of the levels will help you see how to warm up using three, then two and then one or no points of stability. The goal is to allow the body to “move” and work as it was intended to – with integrated and sequential movement patterns, rather than isolating individual body parts. The Dynamic Warm Up trains movement, not muscles – which should improve performance, whether you are a world class athlete or a beginning exerciser.
**Acknowledgement** Dixie Stanforth, Ph.D., directs the undergraduate Specialization in Personal Training at UT Austin. Dixie has been a fitness editor for Shape magazine and a 5-star presenter for IDEA, presenting extensively at both national and international conferences. She is a spokesperson for ACE, and serves on the Editorial Board for the ACSM Health & Fitness Journal and GSSI Speakers Bureau. She has a successful personal training business, and continues to be involved in the research of current fitness topics while emphasizing her commitment to teaching and training others.
Dixie has developed a successful curriculum for personal trainers, providing both theoretical content and practical experiences. Former students currently practice as doctors, physical therapists, physician assistant’s, and other branches of allied health. Many have successful personal training careers, and now own/operate their own facilities, while others work with athletes in sports conditioning settings. Her desire to challenge her students to excel extends to this project, which features students teaching the basics of a dynamic warm up.
All students graduated from UT Austin, College of Education, Dept. of Kinesiology & Health Education.
Anthony Winn, Lead Instructor: Earned his BS (2010) and MEd (2012). Works as a Performance Coach at Driven Performance in Austin, TX.
Lauren Holt: Earned her BS (2010) and MEd (2012). Works as a Strength & Conditioning Intern at Round Rock Express and UT Basketball.
Robby Watson: Earned his BS (2012).
Sam Dowd: Providing the “voice” for the Introduction, Sam earned his BS (2010),
