From Stiff to Strong: Smarter Warm-Ups & Mobility Exercises for Older Adults | Shebah Carfagna & Nate Wilkins

Dynamic stretching is an essential warm-up tool, priming muscles and joints for movement by improving mobility, increasing blood flow, and preparing the body for safer, more effective exercise

Ageless Workout trainers Nate Wilkins and Shebah Carfagna explain how warming up reduces injury risk - especially for older adults - while enhancing range of motion and exercise quality. In conversation with Peter Bowes, they highlight the benefits of directional movement and why aging bodies often need longer, more deliberate warm-ups.

They note that short daily bouts of dynamic movement help maintain balance, gait, and functional mobility, countering stiffness caused by sedentary routines. Their core message: a well-structured warm-up primes both body and mind, improving performance and protecting long-term health.

Always consult your healthcare provider before starting or modifying any fitness program.

This is the latest in our 20-part series, Move for Life. 

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Transcript

Peter Bowes: 0:27

Dynamic stretching the best way to prepare your body for movement. Hello again. Welcome to the Live Long podcast and our Move for Life series. Short episodes with Nate Wilkins and Sheba Cafagna, where we focus on the basics in this episode. Why moving before we work out sets us up for strength, flexibility, and longevity.

Shebah Carfagna: 0:48

Dynamic stretching is stretching that you do that prepares the body to mimic the motions that you will be performing in exercise. So you want to do dynamic stretching initially to raise the body temperature to get the body moving the synovial fluid in all of your muscles going. But and also it's just good for the body to do that. And its dynamic stretching is good all of the time.

Nate Wilkins: 1:12

It's a non-negotiable for peak performance. Right. It helps with your joint mobility. So it's not the same thing as, say, static stretching. It's that kind of stretching that you do to move the body and prepare it. And I use that for a lot of times in my boot camp classes. I'm like, we got to do about 10 to 15 minutes of just movement, different directions.

Shebah Carfagna: 1:38

And you need that complete movement to fully warm up the body and get the body going. Recent studies show that dynamic stretching gives you joint lubrication flow and really gets you ready for the exercise, the work, the body, what we call the body of work going forward.

Nate Wilkins: 1:56

It helps to sort of warm up the synovial fluid in the body. It gets you flowing. And so if you like anything like me and you move a little bit because you're stiff from whatever, it gets you going long before you need to, if you're going to use weights, you pick up those weights and you're better able to offset injuries.

Peter Bowes: 2:18

And this is crucial, isn't it? Because of our daily movement, this is often the movement that people will skip or ignore.

Shebah Carfagna: 2:25

It is crucially important not to do that because you can reduce the risk of injury 7 to 10% by doing an effective warm up and this dynamic stretching. And you don't want to miss that. You know, obviously the most important thing at any age is to reduce injury. But you don't want to get hurt and you want to go full range of motion. So the dynamic stretching again prepares the body for full range of motion.

Nate Wilkins: 2:51

Absolutely.

Shebah Carfagna: 2:51

Better execution of the exercises, more efficient and execution.

Nate Wilkins: 2:56

Particularly for active aging or aging adults. It is almost vital that you put dynamic stretching in your program as compared to static stretching.

Shebah Carfagna: 3:07

It's good for balance, gait, all of those things.

Peter Bowes: 3:09

So where do we start? And I guess it does depend on the kind of exercise you're just about to do.

Shebah Carfagna: 3:15

It's an overall body stretch. So if you're at a beginning level you can you know, your stretches would be probably the same as someone who's a little more advanced, but at a modification, because everyone needs that dynamic stretching, which should be done just about every for sure, every time you warm up. So you can begin. Very simple arm circles, lifting the knees and the arms moving multiple body parts. And so you want to get that multi-joint function going and raise the body temperature. Again you're looking for range of motion you know to maintain range of motion. And you can't do that even on a bicep curl without an effective warm up of the arms including the deltoids, the shoulders right here, your delts, your shoulders, your scapula, your thighs, okay. And all the parts of the thighs and the three heads of the triceps and extensors. You need to do that warm up. That's why when you see boxers warm up, they shadow box. It's a constant shadow boxing movement before they put their gloves on. And that is a great example of dynamic stretching. It is a great opportunity for dynamic stretching.

Nate Wilkins: 4:19

It helps again with balance. And I know we're going to get into balance. But it engages it engages all of those things long before you have to really put them to work. It's sort of messaging to the brain. And we talked about the brain and the body connection.

Peter Bowes: 4:34

And a big part of this, of course, is injury prevention.

Nate Wilkins: 4:37

Job one we always talk about safety first, but definitely job one injury prevention that you want to make sure that your body is nice and warm before you do lifting weights. And even I think sometimes when people think about going into the gym to perhaps use weights or machines, they can just jump right into it. We don't recommend that. We recommend that that you warm that body up with dynamic stretching.

Peter Bowes: 5:06

And in terms of our daily mindset, is dynamic stretching valuable to us, even if it isn't a gym day. So we might get up in the morning and are planning to go to work to prepare breakfast. Just get on with your day. Is it valuable still to do five minutes of dynamic stretching?

Shebah Carfagna: 5:25

For sure. For sure it increases blood flow, raises the body temperature, the lubrication of the joints, which is so important as you get older, you never want to jam the joints. We say you want to go 99% and make that joint just to the very end, because a lot of injuries is because of joint damage, nerve damage, regular aging process which includes arthritis. And so that warm up, even for someone like me who now requires another hip replacement, it's so critical to where you want to be to perform the exercises. And so that warm up and that messaging to my brain will better prepare me for the surgery that's ahead.

Peter Bowes: 6:05

How many minutes should we allocate to this, do you think?

Nate Wilkins: 6:08

You suggested five minutes. I've actually in my classes, Peter. I've actually incorporated somewhere between 10 and 15 minutes. Because we're older. It's like, I don't want to say this, but like an older car, sometimes, you know, it takes longer to warm the body up. And so I just want to make sure that it that it's really to a place where we can avoid injuries. So I spent about 10 or 15 minutes and in different movements, whether it's reaching or turning or lunging or air squats, you know, just any number of ways that we can move the body. And I'm a big proponent of rotation to get the body going. I mean, that's that's what what I recommend some just get in about five minutes. And, and I'm finding that for me at at 70 plus five minutes, if I'm in a rush that might work. But if I can spend more time, I feel much better.

Shebah Carfagna: 7:09

And studies show that 5 to 7 minutes of aerobic activity for younger people is wonderful. If you're over 50, I'd recommend you go 7 to 10 and a half an hour situation. When I teach online, it's a 30 minute class. We do ten minutes of warm up, 15 minutes of body intense body work in a class and a low impact class. And then we end with ten minutes of stretching at the end. It never works that way because everyone's excited. So, you know, you only get in about five minutes.

Peter Bowes: 7:38

Well, you've just preempted my next question. You say everyone's excited in terms of mindset when you're getting into that 5 to 7 minutes of initial stretching, how does it make you feel? How does it affect your attitude towards what's to come in terms of your exercise?

Shebah Carfagna: 7:55

Well, it prepares you for what's next. It, allows the endorphins to get warmed up in your mind, and it's something you look forward to because you're feeling like kind of stiff when you're going. Everyone, I don't care what age you are feeling. Kind of stiff. That movement allows you to prepare for what's ahead, which is an everyday activity. Activity of daily living. You need to prepare for what's ahead. So when you get out of bed, you're stretching before your workout. You're stretching, you know, before you go to dinner all day long. That movement is so critical, especially if you have a job or a situation where you're sitting all day if you're sedentary every hour, we recommend for our clients to get up every hour just to move around and walk around, go outside, get some fresh air to move their body, which in some sense is not necessarily dynamic stretching, but it's somewhere between and keeping that body constantly moving.

Peter Bowes: 8:51

So dynamic stretching gets your body ready to move by warming up muscles, increasing circulation, and improving flexibility. It primes you for better performance while reducing your risk of injury. The Live Long Podcast is a healthspan media production. I'm Peter Bowes, you can contact me through our website livelongpodcast.com where you'll also find show notes for this episode.

DISCLAIMER: 9:17

This podcast is for informational, educational and entertainment purposes only. We do not offer medical advice. If you have health concerns of any kind or you are considering adopting a new diet or exercise regime, you should first consult your doctor.