Dynamic Warm Up For Better Soccer Performance

Many soccer players, and even some “old-school” coaches, still perform static
stretches before a game, practice, or training. This is likely because they believe
that passive stretching will help prevent injury, improve performance, and reduce
muscle soreness. 

However, there is little or no scientific evidence to support this

belief, and stretching this way before physical activity could actually be doing
more harm than good!

It’s time to look at a better way to prepare your body for exercise and sport: The
Dynamic Warm Up.

First let’s look at some different forms of stretching. There are 2 main categories
of stretching: passive and active.

Passive stretching is when you use an outside force other than your own
muscle to move a joint or limb beyond its active range of motion, to put your body
into a position that you couldn’t do by yourself (such as when you lean into a
wall, or have a partner push you into a deeper stretch, without engaging your
own muscles). Unfortunately,

 this is the most common form of stretching used.
Although most people are more familiar with traditional passive stretching it can
actually hurt your performance and may even lead to injury. Research from the
American Journal of Applied Physiology and reports brought to us by the
American College of Sports Medicine show that passive stretching can decrease
strength and muscular power output by up to 20 %.

Passive stretching can also tear your soft tissue thus creating less available
muscle for you to create power. 

This is especially significant if you consider that
many athletes are still doing passive stretching prior to training or competition!
Active stretching doesn’t involve external force and thus doesn’t have the same
negative effects as passive, static stretching. It involves actively using your own
muscles to achieve range of motion; as the antagonist (opposite) muscle


contracts, the agonist (target) muscle groups lengthen and relax. This is a safer,
more effective method of maintaining a healthy range of motion, while increasing
joint stability and strength.