Regardless of the activity, warming up is one of the most important parts of your workout. We have to properly engage our muscles and prepare our bodies physically and mentally for exercise. An effective warm up increases body temperature, increases heart rate and decreases the risk of injury.
The first part of the warm up is generally an aerobic activity such as jogging or jump rope. The main focus of this phase is to increase heart rate and blood flow. This phase is typically followed by stretching and dynamic movements in efforts to prepare for the upcoming workout. For example, If I am working with an athlete and during our performance phase he is doing a lot of explosive jumps and movements, it is imperative that I include some sort of jumps or similar movements in his dynamic warm up. We can't just expect our bodies to perform at certain intensities if we do not train it properly. This is why a thought out and effective warm, up that is relevant to your workout, is very important.
An example of a simple warm up is:
Jog – 3-5 mins
High Knees – 30 Seconds
Butt Kicks – 30 Seconds
High Kicks – 30 Seconds
Lateral Shuffles – 30 Seconds (each side)
Lateral Lunges – 10 (5 each side)
Body Weight Squats – 10
Alternating Forward Lunges – 10 (5 each side)