Warm Up Exercises for Cold Weather

Written by INNER G

November is when the cold starts to stick around. At the Toronto Pearson weather station, the overnight low drops to 0 °C or colder on about 15 nights in an average November. In October it's about 3. By December it's about 26 (Environment and Climate Change Canada, 1991 to 2020 normals).

That's when people walk in cold from the parking lot and go straight to their first heavy set because they're short on time. Then they wonder why their knees feel stiff and the weight feels heavier than last week.

Here's what the research says about warming up in the cold, and why the real protection against injury comes from months of lifting.

Please read first. This post is general information, not medical advice. If you have arthritis or gout, talk to your doctor before you change your training. If a joint is swollen and hot, get medical care. If you get chest pain or feel faint while you exercise, stop and get medical care.

How often it freezes overnight

Average number of nights a month when the low hits 0 °C or colder at Toronto Pearson (1991 to 2020 normals). Pick a month to see its average temperature.

Source: Environment and Climate Change Canada, Canadian Climate Normals 1991 to 2020, Toronto Pearson. See the data.

Why cold muscles feel stiff and weak

Muscle works better when it's warm. A review on temperature and muscle function found that for short efforts, like a jump or a heavy set, performance goes up about 2% to 5% for every 1 °C rise in muscle temperature. When muscles are cold, the signal from your nervous system to the muscle gets weaker too, so you lose some power and speed (Racinais & Oksa, 2010).

You don't need to stand outside for that to matter. A cold walk from the car and a body that's been sitting all day both mean you're starting from a lower muscle temperature than you would in July.

What a warm up does for your workout

A systematic review pooled 32 high quality studies on warming up. A warm up improved performance in 79% of the measures they looked at, and they found little evidence that warming up hurts performance. The authors also said there were few well run randomised trials, so the evidence isn't as strong as it could be (Fradkin et al., 2010).

One small study tested this in the cold. Eleven male athletes rode a bike for 15 minutes in a room set to 10 °C. After the harder warm up (about 80% of their max aerobic capacity), their jump height stayed higher for 20 minutes. After the easier one (about 60%), it only went up right after the warm up and then faded (Chiba et al., 2022). It's one study with a small group, so treat it as a hint, not a rule. It does fit the muscle temperature research above: a warm up that actually makes you warm seems to hold up better in the cold.

Where stretching fits

A lot of people still think a warm up means holding a few long stretches. A big review from a team led by a researcher at Memorial University of Newfoundland looked at what stretching right before exercise does (Behm et al., 2016):

  • Static stretching (holding a stretch) lowered performance by about 3.7% on average.
  • Holding 60 seconds or more per muscle lowered it by about 4.6%. Holding under 60 seconds lowered it by about 1.1%.
  • Dynamic stretching (moving through the range, like leg swings) raised performance by about 1.3%.
  • When people did dynamic activity after stretching, there was no clear drop in performance.

For injuries, static stretching didn't show a clear effect either way, and there wasn't enough data on dynamic stretching. The extra range of motion from stretching usually lasted less than 30 minutes. The authors' advice was to keep stretching inside a full warm up and follow it with dynamic activity.

What stretching right before training does

Average change in performance right after each type of stretching, from a 2016 systematic review. Pick one.

Source: Behm DG, et al. Appl Physiol Nutr Metab 2016;41(1):1-11. Read the study. Static holds are per muscle group.

So a short hold is fine if it helps you feel looser. Just don't let long holds be the whole warm up, and keep moving afterward.

Does cold weather make your joints hurt?

Lots of people say their knees can tell when the weather's changing. The research is mixed.

  • A 2024 review of 11 studies with 15,315 people found no link between temperature, humidity, air pressure or rain and rheumatoid arthritis pain. It found no link for knee or low back pain either. Gout was the exception, where weather did seem to play a part (Ferreira et al., 2024).
  • A 2023 review of 14 studies on osteoarthritis found that 13 of them reported a link between weather and pain. In the 3 studies they could pool for temperature, lower temperatures went with more pain (Wang et al., 2023).

The two reviews used different study types, so they don't fully agree. Either way, if your joints feel stiff in the cold, it makes sense to give them a longer, easier start before you load them. For more on sore knees, read why strength training helps knee pain.

The warm up that lasts all winter is strength training

A warm up gets you ready for today. Getting stronger is what protects you over the season.

A meta analysis of 25 randomised trials with 26,610 people and 3,464 injuries compared different exercise programs for preventing sports injuries (Lauersen et al., 2014):

  • Strength training cut injury risk to about a third (risk ratio 0.315).
  • Balance and body awareness training cut it to about half (0.550).
  • Programs that mixed several types cut it by about 35% (0.655).
  • Stretching made no real difference (0.963).

They also found overuse injuries could be almost halved. These trials were mostly in sport, so they don't map perfectly onto a regular workout. Still, the pattern is clear enough: lifting regularly did a lot more than stretching.

Which programs cut injuries the most

Injury risk compared with no program, from a meta analysis of 25 randomised trials. A shorter bar means fewer injuries. 1.00 means no change.

Strength training cut injury risk to about a third. Want a coach to set that up for you? Book a class

Source: Lauersen JB, et al. Br J Sports Med 2014;48(11):871-877. Read the study. Trials were mostly in sport.

A simple order for cold days

Here's a warm up order that lines up with the research above. A coach can tweak it for your body and the workout you're doing.

  1. Keep your layers on at first. Walk in, leave your jacket on for the first few minutes and take it off once you're warm.
  2. Start easy and build. A few minutes on a bike or rower, starting easy and getting harder until you're breathing a bit faster and starting to feel warm.
  3. Move through your range. Leg swings, walking lunges, arm circles and hip openers. Short holds under 60 seconds are fine if you like them.
  4. Do lighter sets of your first lift. Before your first heavy squat or press, do a couple of easy sets of the same move and add weight from there.

Train through the cold with a coach in Vaughan

It's easy to let training slide once it's cold and dark out. The easiest fix is a set time in the studio where someone else plans the warm up for you.

Start with our small group classes, where a coach adjusts every exercise to you and each class is capped at 16 people. The studio is open from 5:45 AM to 8 PM on weekdays and from 8:30 AM to 4 PM on weekends, and there's parking on site.

If you'd rather work one on one, see personal training in Vaughan. We also offer one on one training focused on balance and strength, and our nutrition coaching can help you eat in a way that supports your training through the holidays. If the dark mornings are messing with your routine, read how exercise helps you sleep better.

Start with the $30 seven day trial: 7 days of unlimited classes for $30 (+ HST). Join by day 5 and your $30 is credited toward your membership.

Questions? Call (289) 536-8066 or email g-squad@innerg.ca.

References

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