Movement Prep for Athletes: The Simple Warm-Up System

Most athletes don’t have a performance problem. They have a preparation problem.

They go from sitting in a car, a classroom, or on a bus to sprinting, cutting, decelerating, and jumping at game speed. That jump from low readiness to high intensity is where movement quality breaks down first. Steps get choppy. Ground contacts get loud. Posture collapses. Athletes start compensating.

Parents and coaches often notice it as “he looks tight,” “she starts slow,” or “they always need ten minutes to get going.” And when something goes wrong early in a session, it’s easy to blame bad luck.

Warm-ups aren’t magic, and no warm-up guarantees injury prevention. Injuries are multifactorial. But the research does support two practical truths: good warm-ups tend to improve performance, especially for explosive tasks (Fradkin, Zazryn, & Smoliga, 2010; McGowan, Pyne, Thompson, & Rattray, 2015), and structured neuromuscular warm-up programs can reduce injury rates in youth sport when they’re implemented consistently (Rössler et al., 2018; Barengo et al., 2014). Consistency is usually the missing ingredient.

So when I talk about movement prep, I’m not talking about a random list of exercises. I’m talking about a repeatable system that prepares the athlete for the demands of team sports: acceleration, high-speed running, change of direction, and force absorption. The goal is simple: athletes feel ready, move cleaner, and transition into speed work without turning the warm-up into conditioning.

Coaches ask a fair question: “Does a warm-up prevent injuries?”

The best answer is honest and useful. Warm-ups can shift the odds in your favor, especially when they include more than jogging and stretching. In a review of randomized controlled trials, there wasn’t enough evidence to fully endorse or discontinue warm-ups for injury prevention, but the weight of evidence leaned toward decreased injury risk (Fradkin, Gabbe, & Cameron, 2006). That’s a realistic summary of the science.

Where the evidence becomes more convincing is when warm-ups are built as neuromuscular preparation, meaning they include balance, strength, coordination, landing control, and progressive movement. FIFA 11+ and 11+ Kids are good examples of this type of framework. In youth football, 11+ Kids reduced injuries in a large cluster randomized controlled trial (Rössler et al., 2018), and reviews of FIFA 11+ show meaningful injury reductions when teams actually comply (Barengo et al., 2014).

Even if you never run FIFA 11+, the principle stays the same: a warm-up shouldn’t only make athletes warm. It should prepare them for the highest intensity actions that happen in sport.

This becomes even more important when you consider sprinting. Sprinting places high strain demands on tissues like the hamstrings, particularly during late swing when hamstrings perform high strain eccentric actions (Danielsson et al., 2020). If athletes aren’t prepared for speed, the first few exposures are often the messiest.

And to be clear, warm-ups are only one piece of the injury reduction puzzle. Strength training and multi-component training programs show strong evidence for reducing injury risk, while stretching alone does not show clear benefit (Lauersen, Bertelsen, & Andersen, 2014; Thacker et al., 2004; Herbert & Gabriel, 2002). That’s why my movement prep includes isometrics, trunk control, and force-acceptance patterns, not just flexibility work.

Here’s the simple warm-up system I use (about 10–15 minutes). If you have less time, reduce volume, not quality. Keep the structure. The goal is readiness, not fatigue.

First, we raise the system for 2–3 minutes. You want to increase temperature and heart rate without tiring the athlete out. Think continuous movement, short distances, and a smooth build-up. A simple team flow is: march down and back (10–15 yards), skip down and back, shuffle down and back, then an easy build-up run down and walk back, repeated once. This phase should feel easy. Active warm-ups can improve performance, but performance can be impaired if the warm-up is too intense or recovery is insufficient (Bishop, 2003b). This shouldn’t look like a conditioning test.

Next comes the most important “clean up” phase: activate and organize for 4–6 minutes. This is where you improve positions, wake up the hips and trunk, and prep the lower leg for cutting and deceleration.

Instead of generic ankle mobility, I want the lower leg portion to accomplish two things fast: stability through the foot and ankle so the athlete doesn’t collapse on contact, and a quick rehearsal of force acceptance in the directions sport demands, especially side-to-side.

Here’s the lower leg block I use. Split-stance calf isometric hold for 15–20 seconds each side (split stance, back heel lifted, back knee slightly bent, weight stacked over the ball of the foot; cue big toe pressure, strong arch, hips square, torso tall). Then small lateral stick hops, 2 sets of 4 hops each direction, and stick the last rep for 2 seconds (cue land quietly, knee over toes, freeze the position). Then pogos in place for 8–12 contacts (cue tall posture, stiff ankles, quick and quiet contacts, minimal knee bend). This stays short on purpose. If contacts get loud or mechanics get sloppy, reduce reps, make the hops smaller, or slow it down until the athlete owns the positions.

From there, hit the hips. Glute bridge for 6–8 reps with a 2-second squeeze at the top, then a split squat isometric hold for 10–20 seconds each side. Cue ribs down, knee tracks, full foot pressure, tall posture. The hips drive acceleration, deceleration, and re-acceleration. This section helps athletes feel “connected” instead of loose and wobbly.

Then trunk. Pick one: dead bug for 6 controlled reps per side, or a front plank for 20–30 seconds. The trunk is the transmission. If it can’t transfer force efficiently, athletes leak power and lose position when speed increases.

A quick word on stretching, because this is where a lot of warm-ups get derailed. Stretching isn’t inherently bad, but prolonged static stretching right before explosive output can reduce force and power in some contexts, while dynamic preparation tends to be more appropriate right before sprinting and jumping (Behm & Chaouachi, 2011). Stretching also doesn’t appear to provide a meaningful reduction in injury risk on its own (Herbert & Gabriel, 2002; Thacker et al., 2004). If an athlete needs mobility, integrate dynamic mobility briefly, then follow it with active work that tells the nervous system “we’re about to move fast.”

Finally, prime and ramp into speed for 4–6 minutes. This is the missing piece in many youth warm-ups. Athletes get warm, then the coach calls for sprinting. There’s no bridge. The first true sprint rep becomes a shock.

Keep this phase simple and specific. Choose one sprint drill you coach well: A-march for 10 yards down and back, or A-skip for 10 yards down and back, or wall march positions for 5 reps per side. You’re looking for posture, rhythm, and stepping down under the hips. If the athlete looks frantic, slow it down. If they look lazy, shorten the distance and sharpen intent.

Then progressive accelerations — non-negotiable. This is the bridge that makes the rest work: 10 yards at 60–70%, 10 yards at 75–80%, 10 yards at 85–90%, then 20 yards at 90–95%. Rest 45–75 seconds between efforts. Team sport sprinting is high output. You want quality, not fatigue.

Warm-ups generally improve performance when they’re active and appropriately designed (Fradkin et al., 2010). Reviews on warm-up mechanisms also support progressing toward the intensity and specificity of the task while managing fatigue (Bishop, 2003a; McGowan et al., 2015). There’s also youth data supporting structured warm-up frameworks for sprint and jump readiness; in a controlled crossover study in youth soccer players, a RAMP warm-up produced better sprint and jump outcomes than static stretching or no warm-up (Girginer et al., 2025). You don’t need to label your warm-up RAMP, but the principle holds: build up, organize, then potentiate into high output.

How do you coach this so it actually works? The system is simple. The coaching makes it effective.

By the time the athlete finishes the progressive accelerations, you want three outcomes: they look more coordinated (contacts quieter, posture taller, arms and legs synced), they look more elastic (pogos springy, ankles stiff instead of collapsed), and their first hard acceleration looks smooth (no reaching, no overstriding, no panic steps).

If those outcomes aren’t happening, the solution is rarely more exercises. It’s almost always better cues, better regressions, and better control of volume and intensity. Cues that work for most youth athletes: “tall chest, ribs down,” “quiet feet,” “step down under you,” “stiff ankles, quick contacts,” “own the stick.”

Scaling it is straightforward. For younger athletes or beginners, keep everything low amplitude and low volume: calf iso at 15 seconds, hops tiny, pogos at 8 contacts, and stop accelerations at 90% instead of 95%. For older or advanced athletes, keep the structure and progress one variable at a time: calf iso to 20 seconds, hops slightly faster (not bigger), pogos can occasionally move forward 10 yards, and accelerations can extend to 30 yards if the day calls for it. Progress should look like better positions and better speed exposure, not just more work.

If you’re running this with a full team and need it clean, here’s a simple 12-minute version: raise flow 2 minutes, activate and organize 5 minutes, one sprint drill 1 minute, progressive accelerations 4 minutes. If you only have 8 minutes: 90 seconds raise flow, 2 minutes of calf iso + lateral stick hops, 10 pogos, then two accelerations (10 yards at ~80%, 20 yards at ~90%). When time is short, don’t delete the ramp into speed — reduce volume elsewhere.

The most common mistakes that make warm-ups less effective are predictable: turning the warm-up into conditioning (sprint quality drops when athletes are already gassed), skipping the progressive ramp into speed (first sprint becomes a shock), relying on long static stretching as the warm-up, and randomizing warm-ups every day. Athletes improve through repetition. Warm-ups should reinforce the same positions and habits.

The takeaway is simple. A warm-up shouldn’t be a formality. It’s the first part of training. If you want athletes who accelerate faster, cut cleaner, and look confident early in practice and competition, give them a consistent movement prep system that raises temperature, organizes the body for sport positions, primes elastic contacts, and progressively ramps up speed.

If you want this exact warm-up written out as a simple printable PDF you can use for training and game day, email us at info@prepareforperformance.com and we’ll send it over. If you’re a parent or coach in the Rockville area and want a sprint and movement assessment for your athlete, Prepare for Performance can help. We coach speed development, strength training, and movement quality using a long-term approach that meets athletes where they are and builds them up the right way.

References:

Barengo, N. C., Meneses Echávez, J. F., Ramírez Vélez, R., Cohen, D. D., Tovar, G., & Correa Bautista, J. E. (2014). The impact of the FIFA 11+ training program on injury prevention in football players: A systematic review. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 11(11), 11986–12000.

Behm, D. G., & Chaouachi, A. (2011). A review of the acute effects of static and dynamic stretching on performance. European Journal of Applied Physiology, 111(11), 2633–2651.

Bishop, D. (2003a). Warm up I: Potential mechanisms and the effects of passive warm up on exercise performance. Sports Medicine, 33(6), 439–454.

Bishop, D. (2003b). Warm up II: Performance changes following active warm up and how to structure the warm up. Sports Medicine, 33(7), 483–498.

Danielsson, A., Horvath, A., Senorski, E. H., Alentorn Geli, E., Garrett, W. E., Cugat, R., Alfredson, H., & Samuelsson, K. (2020). The mechanism of hamstring injuries: A systematic review. BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders, 21, 641.

Fradkin, A. J., Gabbe, B. J., & Cameron, P. A. (2006). Does warming up prevent injury in sport? The evidence from randomised controlled trials. Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport, 9(3), 214–220.

Fradkin, A. J., Zazryn, T. R., & Smoliga, J. M. (2010). Effects of warming up on physical performance: A systematic review with meta analysis. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 24(1), 140–148.

Girginer, F. G., Seyhan, S., Açar, G., Bilici, M. F., Bilici, Ö. F., & Soylu, Ç. (2025). Acute effects of the RAMP warm up on sprint and jump performance in youth soccer players. Frontiers in Physiology, 16, 1612611.

Herbert, R. D., & Gabriel, M. (2002). Effects of stretching before and after exercising on muscle soreness and risk of injury: Systematic review. BMJ, 325(7362), 468.

Lauersen, J. B., Bertelsen, D. M., & Andersen, L. B. (2014). The effectiveness of exercise interventions to prevent sports injuries: A systematic review and meta analysis of randomised controlled trials. British Journal of Sports Medicine, 48(11), 871–877.

McGowan, C. J., Pyne, D. B., Thompson, K. G., & Rattray, B. (2015). Warm up strategies for sport and exercise: Mechanisms and applications. Sports Medicine, 45(11), 1523–1546.

Rössler, R., Junge, A., Bizzini, M., Verhagen, E., Chomiak, J., Aus der Fünten, K., Meyer, T., Dvorak, J., Lichtenstein, E., Beaudouin, F., & Faude, O. (2018). A multinational cluster randomised controlled trial to assess the efficacy of 11+ Kids: A warm up programme to prevent injuries in children’s football. Sports Medicine, 48(6), 1493–1504.

Thacker, S. B., Gilchrist, J., Stroup, D. F., & Kimsey, C. D. (2004). The impact of stretching on sports injury risk: A systematic review of the literature. Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, 36(3), 371–378.