Humans, just like car engines, need a little warm-up to prepare the muscles and tendons for exercise.  Also like humans, the colder a car gets, the longer it takes to warm-up.  Most people like to stretch prior to exercise in order to initiate this process. I want to make sure you are warming up correctly.  Quickly about dynamic vs. static stretching.  Also described a static warmup or dynamic warmup. 

 Dynamic Stretching - The point of warming up is to prepare the muscles and tendons for exercise.  Dynamic stretching moves the muscles actively through their full ranges of motion, much like they move when you are doing the workout. 

Static Stretching - Lengthen and Hold-type stretching, after workouts serves to reduce muscle soreness and prevent muscle stiffness by 1) reducing lactic acid build-up in the muscle and 2) safely lengthening the already warmed muscle tissue.

*Your muscles may actually be weaker, less explosive, and your joints are more prone to destabilizing injuries if static stretching is performed prior to exercise.  

*Not performing any dynamic warm-up prior exercise increases your risk of joint and soft-tissue injury. 

*Ballistic stretching is high-velocity, broad-range movements and is not ideal as an initial warm-up step. However, it is very useful in exercises that demand a large range of motion and explosive movements. 

Stay Healthy Everyone

Dr. Bags