Maybe you should skip that stretch....

What?!?! But I've been told I should stretch before I work out to avoid injury and warm up. New research from the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research says that an active and dynamic warm up is preferred to a passive stretch before activity. Read the abstract here.

So what is an active dynamic warm up? It is any warm up that combines cardiovascular challenge and active movements that open up the joints and actively stretches your muscle tissue, but does not hold you in a static stretch.

Passive stretching can lead to instability in your joints increasing your chance for injury.

The other benefit to an active dynamic warm up is that it keeps your mind more present in your activity and therefore your body. Passive stretching can allow your mind to wander, ultimately allowing you to disconnect with your body before an event; possibly missing some warning signs of weakness or potential injury. Keep in mind that active dynamic exercises are also designed to:

• Open up your joints
• Actively stretch muscle tissue
• Increase cardiovascular activity, making it easier to transition into your training, race or activity
• Actively increase flexibility

Why is this you ask? Why doesn't stretching before activity benefit the body? Well, although conclusive research hasn't been done, there are some possible explanations. One is a more relaxed muscle tendon that is not able to contract the muscle they way it needs to in order to fire correctly for activity. The other is that a stretched muscle offers less joint stability. We all lose strength when our joints are unstable.

Try these 5 active dynamic warm up exercises before your next swim, bike or run and see how your body responds. It is best to start with smaller, less intense movements and gradually move into more challenging warm up exercises.

Arm Circles

• Standing with your arms extended at your sides, parallel to the ground, like a capital letter "T" Start with your palms facing up and do small circles forward and backward. Do as many as you can for 30 seconds each way. Repeat with palms down. 
• Warms up; shoulders, lats, biceps, triceps

Knee Hugger

• You are going to walk forward; with each step you take first bring the knee up to your chest, hug it in close and then step forward. Make sure to keep your core engaged. Take 15 - 30 steps with each leg. 
• Warms up; hip flexors, glutes, hamstrings

Butt Kicks

• In a slow jog bring your heel to your to your butt, essentially kicking your own butt with each step. Kick 15 - 30 times with each leg. 
• Warms up; quads, hamstrings, glutes

Walking Lunge w/ Twist

• Starting with your dominate leg, take a wide step forward while lunging keeping the back knee off of the ground. While in your lunge, gently twist to the right and left. Stand up, bringing the back leg to the front leg and repeat on the other side. Do 15 - 20 lunges on each side
• Warms up; obliques, low back, hip flexors, quads, hamstrings, core

Bear Crawl

• Bending over, place your hands and feet on the ground. Crawl using the opposite hand and foot, mimicking a bear. Crawl for 10 yards turn around and crawl back to your starting place.
• Warms up; shoulders, core, back, glutes, quads, hamstrings, lower legs (pretty much everything!!)

Active Dynamic warm ups should change your overall endurance and performance levels. Therapeutic Massage is beneficial to create flexibility in the muscle tissue keeping you flexible but strong. Too much flexibility and you lose stability, to much stability and not enough flexibility can lead to injury. It's about finding the balance to keep you working at your peak level.