I’ve shared a post-easy run cool down, so here’s a look into my warm-up routine!
I know many runners count a “warm up” as a brisk walk, and it’s not because I’m psychic. It’s because I used to be one of those runners. But the reality is, the most a brisk walk will do is maybe oil your joints a bit and ever so slightly elevate your heart rate. At the end of that walk, there’s some really important muscles for running that get ignored in a simple walk.
Like anything in health & fitness, warm-up is not one size fits all. A good rule of thumb I’ve told new runners in the past is to have a few base exercises that will get the blood flowing better, and then add exercises on top of that that are meant to target what you would call “problem areas.” For example, if you’ve been warming up with a quick walk, but noticing some knee pain on your runs, you might want to focus on your glutes a bit more during your warm-up. If you’ve noticed ankle pain, it’s probably because your flexors need to be stretched out.
Of course, ideally, you don’t have problem areas to begin with, in which case, I suggest my usual format: work from the feet up. Warm up your ankles, calves, quads, hamstrings, hip flexors, and glutes.
So here’s some examples of “base” exercises that are good for getting your heart rate up and working on/activating some more neglected muscle groups:
Zombie walks (or opposite zombie walks/Frankensten walk, where you kick up to your opposite hand)
Wide steps/hip opener walk
Rigid skips (think of doing a normal skip, but instead of leaping and landing with your opposite foot, land back on the leg you pushed off with, keeping that leg flexed)
High skips and long skips
Karaoke/Tapioca/Weave step
Lateral band walks/monster walks
And here are some examples of more focused exercises! Pick and choose, depending on areas that are “problems” (previously injured, giving you some pain during runs) or just to cover your bases and warm up from the feet up:
Plantar flexor stretch (ankle joint, arches, plantar flexor)
Heel raises (ankle joint, calves, add a resistance band to target peroneal muscles)
Arm circles (upper postural muscles, if you’re finding upper back pain after a run)
Scorpion (lower back, hip flexors, hamstrings)
Inchworm (core, hamstring)
Lunge matrix (hip to ankle stability)
Hip flexor extensions (hip flexors, hamstrings)
That can seem like a lot, and it may take some trial and error to find the combination of exercises that sits best with you, but I highly recommend you use some easy runs to play around with this.
Typically, you should be doing 7-10 minutes of a dynamic stretch routine involving the above exercises before every run. If I’m about to do a hard effort run, I will typically foam roll some areas that tend to get really tight before heading out as well. Before races, I also throw in some strides and sprints after my dynamic stretches.
As a template, here is the outline of what I do before my runs!
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