Are You A Warm-Up, Stretch-Down Kinda Runner?

Answer me honestly, do you warm up every time you go for a run?

‘Warming Up’ is all about getting the blood pumping and getting the oxygen delivered to the outer extremities – your arms, legs fingers, and tootsies – warming up your muscles ready for action.

It’s about getting your body to feel good before upping the intensity and getting stuck into your session.

Honestly, a few minutes and a few key moves to get your feet, ankles, calves, quads, hamstrings, hips, and arms moving, and in the process, the heart pumping and ready for action, will make a huge difference to how you feel during and after your run.

Stretching

As a runner, you hold your body in a fairly static position during your run, and as a marathon runner, you hold it in this position for a long time.

This running position does not utilise your joint’s full range of movement – not good!

It’s why I recommend taking a few minutes to do a post run flow stretch which hits the calves, hamstring, quads, hip flexors, glutes, lower back and your mid-back and chest – all the muscles that are working hard when you’re running.

The aim is to slowly but continually move into the range of flexibility of each stretch.

If you have areas that are particularly tight, go back to them and move into that stretch a little longer and slower.

Take those extra couple of minutes at the end of your run – your body will love you for it.