When you warm up for a Cardio Class workout is it safe to stretch or not and what types of stretching do you use?

This is a big debate. Some of the major organizations such as ACE and AFAA promote rehearsal movements and dynamic stretching (rhythmic limbering) for a Cardio Warm-Up. Usually short duration static stretches are optional to include and should be performed after the muscles are warm. The research is not 100% at the time. Things to consider as far as including static stretching in the warm up are: type of cardio class, goal of the class and individual, intensity of cardio, type of participants, etc.

I have been teaching for over 25 years and I'm a little old school. I still include some short static stretching (erector spinae, hamstrings, hip flexors, calves) in my all of warm-ups. I includes some static stretching at the end of my post-cardio cool down. I always teach longer duration at the end of the workout.

In my traditional dance and some of my cardio-dance classes, I teach longer static stretching in the warm-up because the workout goal is different from a general population cardio class.

As I can get older and work more with older adults and people with physical disabilities, I believe that flexibility is a very neglected health-related component of physical fitness.

Hello Dimitris,

You are posting really great questions!

I notice that you are certified by the American Council on Exercise. I found this information in ACE's second edition of the Group Instructor Manual. Hope this is helpful to you!

Stretches, If Appropriate

"To stretch or not to stretch during the warm-up is a much-debated issue, and there is no consensus in the current scientific literature. "

The text goes on to say that "instructors are in the best position to know their participants and determine what is best for them. The decision on how to go about warming up and stretching is an individual one. It is definitively known that flexibility is a health-related component of fitness and needs to be included in the workout. Whether it is at the end of the workout, in the middle or during the warm-up should be a choice made by the instructor based on feedback from the participants until more definitive research on the topic has been conducted. It is known that optimum flexibility is achieved at the end of the workout, and dynamic movement should be performed before any static stretching in the warm-up."

ACE Group Fitness Instructor Manual, second edition pp. 177

Hope this is of help.

To keep stretching safe while participants warm up, I always suggest keeping the stretching ballistic and mild. This allows most to target tight spots without overlengthening muscles that are about to be used, as well as, elevating the heart rate to help acclimatize them into cardiorespiratory activity.

When I lead group exercise, there are things that look like stretching in the warm up, but they only serve to increase the blood flow to the muscles during the warm up. Stretching for an increase in flexibility is saved for the end of the workout during the cool down.

I do not utilize static stretching during the warm-up phase of the class or training session and have not for many years due to the body of research which indicates that it may negatively impact the performance of the client during the workout and it also seems counterintiutive to attempt static stretches when the body is not warmed up. Warm-ups usually include a less intense version of the specific skills/drills and activities included in that specific workout which prepares the body quite well for the class or training session.

Following myofascial release performed on a foam roller, we do perform static stretches for all major muscle groups of the body during our final cool down, targeting those specifically utilized during the class or training session.

We also encourage our clientele to self-myofascial release on the foam roller prior to their workouts as this has been shown to be benenficial in improving their performance during their workouts.

I don't stretch as a means of warming up
I move around to warm up.

Stretching is not something I would do at the beginning of a workout, I would do it at the end, and with warm muscles.

Static stretches do not increase core body temperature in and of themselves, so they don't "warm" the body anyway, but having them in the warmup after you've done some rhythmic limbering, movement rehearsal, and perhaps some dynamic (not ballistic) stretching would be fine. Static stretches performed before a cardio workout aren't going to be the problem that they would be prior to a strength or power workout, so no worries on that score. Static stretches done before power/strength exercise have been shown to reduce quadriceps strength by as much as 12%, and to negate the elastic energy created during the stretch-shorten cycle (this cycle is known to potentiate the body's ability to perform at its best in activities such as vertical jump, etc.).