Do-now #109 (Wednesday Sept. 7)

An example of something that people used to believe and was useful to them at the time, was the knowledge of how to warm up the body properly before exercise. Back in the day, there was little knowledge on how to correctly warm up the body before an athletic event. The typical warm up consisted of a couple jogs around the field/court and static stretching. At the time, scientists and the athletic community didn't know better and though this was the proper way of warming up. It wasn't until years later that the scientific community discovered that the old-school jog and stretch was detrimental to athletic performance before an event (such as a match or game). They found out that static stretching elongated the muscles (thus the increased flexibility), which weakened the muscles. Before any athletic endeavour, the athlete wants to be ready to perform at high intensity and powerfully, not weak and cold. Thus, the dynamic warm-up was introduced to the athletic community. It consists of low-intensity movements (with the related sport) that gradually increase in intensity, to ensure the body is warm and fully prepared to move at an optimal level while decreasing the risk of injury. Basically, the idea is to move the limbs of the body in a controlled manner to get the muscles warm and ready for competition.