Do you know the difference between static stretching & dynamic warm-ups? Did you know that doing the wrong of those can decrease later athletic performance while doing the right can increase it? If your answer is yes then perhaps you are not of the athletes that James Zois from the School of Sport & Exercise Science at Victoria University in Melbourne, Australia is referring to when they says athletes are warming up wrong.
Earlier this month, Zois talked to the press about the research they is doing on the effect of pre-competition static stretches & dynamic warm-ups on athletes' leaping performance.
They found that static stretching decreased leaping performance by 8%, while dynamic warm-ups increased athletes' vertical jump by 3%.
Static stretching includes things like calf, quad & hip flex stretches. Dynamic warm-ups are range of motion activities such as high knee raises, leg swings & run-throughs, or physical tasks that involve change of direction.
