Do you wear your running shoes, get out and start running without a warm-up?
So, don’t be surprised when running injuries will occur.
When the muscles are cold and the joints are stiff, intense training can endanger the muscles and expose us to unnecessary injuries.
Before running a half marathon or just jogging in the neighborhood, a proper running warm-up is essential for avoiding injuries. Additionally, a proper warm-up can improve your running performance.
Another important part of the warmup is getting in the right mindset.
3 Things That Warm-up Does:
- It prepares our bodies for running. Literally, warming up the muscles by circulating our blood. The heart rate gently rises, and the breathing also gently increases. By the time you’re ready for your faster-paced running, your body is up to speed, and it’s not so much of a shock.
- A warm-up builds and reinforces the communication pathways between the brain and the muscles. These are called neuromuscular connections. Neuromuscular training is about stimulating the brain’s communication with the muscles. It improves running form efficiency, economy, power, stride length and frequency, ultimately fatigue, and resistance.
- A good warmup routine prepares you mentally for what you’re about to do before a race or an intense workout.
One of the best ways to ease the negative mental energy is by channeling your focus into a routine that you’ve done a million times before.
However, doing a warm-up that includes only a mile or two of easy jogging is not enough.
A proper warm-up should be done correctly and include the following 3 steps:
1) Dynamic warm-up to lubricate the joints
2) Technique exercises
3) Walking/Easy running
Step 1 – Dynamic Warm-up to Lubricate The Joints
We need to lubricate our joints to make our run smoother and lower our chance of injury. So it is highly recommended to move all the joints in the body when starting the warm-up.
We focus on the entire body and move each joint and joint, first with linear movements and then with rotations.
This activity prevents muscle cramps of the back, neck, shoulders, and so on.
It reduces the risk of injuries to the joints, such as ankle sprain, and improves the quality of the body’s movement.
Following are a few drills that can be done at this part of the warm-up, starting from the neck to the ankles.
These drills should be repeated 8 to 12 times.
- Neck – While standing, move your neck slowly down to the chest and then rotate the neck to the right and then to the left.
- Arms – Circle your arms forward several times and then backward.
- Shoulders – Stand straight and roll your shoulders back.
- Upper body twists – Look forward while standing, and twist your upper body from right to left.
- Hips – Stand on the left leg while the right leg knee is up to 90 degrees, and do circles to the right with your right leg. Switch legs after several times.
Hold a chair or a friend nearby if you feel unsteady standing on one leg. - Knee Circles – Stand straight with your knees slightly bent and with your feet together. Place the hands on the knees and draw a circle with your knees to the right, after several times circle the knees to the left.
Pay attention to keeping your feet flat on the ground. - Ankles – Start with plantar flexion, which means pointing your toes to the ground while the heel is up. After that, do ankle dorsiflexion, which means bending your ankle toward the shin(toes up, heel down). Switch legs after several times.
The following video shows how to warm up your knees and ankle joints:
Joint Warm-up | Yoga for Runners | by Gaiam (01:07)
However, you should avoid doing static stretches during the running warm-up, as this can lead to injuries.
Step 2 – Technique Exercises
Before running, it is recommended to perform a short four to five minutes of workout, that includes running technique exercises mainly for the legs.
For example, the following video shows five drills for a warm-up and running technique improvement.
Perform each drill for about 20 to 30 seconds.
- 1. High Knees – Run slowly with short strides while lifting your knees up to waist level. Land on the forefront of your feet and not on the heels.
- 2. Butt Kicks – Jog slowly while bringing one heel off the floor towards your glutes as possible. Move the opposite arm as when running.
- 3. Skips – Skip with high knees, extend the keg forward, and bring your leg down. Try to move forward as quickly as possible. The foot should be slightly flexed, which means toes drawn up towards your shin. Move your arms as if you were running.
- 4. Grapevine – This drill is fun, step to the right side while the left leg is crossed behind the right foot.
After that, step to the right again with the right foot and bring the left foot in front of the right leg.
After a few steps, repeat the move while now the left leg leads. - 5. Bounds – Jog slowly with an exaggerated running stride, step forward with your left leg, driving your right knee up to the waist. Freeze the move for one second and land softly on your right forefoot. Repeat the move while your right leg leads.
When running in cold weather, it is recommended to do this part of warm-up inside a building and not outside.
Step 3 – Walking or Easy Running
These light cardio exercises are the most essential part of the warm-up. You should never start running at high intensity while the muscles are cold and stiff. Intensive training without this cardio part of the warm-up can endanger our muscles and expose us to unnecessary injuries.
Walking and then easy running raises the body’s temperature and enhances the blood flow to the muscles, so they will be ready for the running.
Before any intensive running (intervals, tempo, fartlek, etc.), it is essential to run at least half a mile slowly, and after that gradually increase the pace.
Beginner runners can start walking and later on increase to a brisk pace and then jog.
This part of the warm-up is also needed for the heart. Our heart does not like sharp changes and quick transition from resting to intensive training.
Now, after we did a proper warm-up, we can enjoy our running!
Warm-up Duration and Intensity
However, the warm-up duration should not be too long and intensive. This can make us feel exhausted, and reduce our ability to perform well in the workout/race.
The warm-up duration rule is:
the longer the running distance, the shorter the warm-up should be.
On race day, the duration of your warm-up will have an inverse relation to the length of your race. For example, if you’re racing one mile, you’ll want to have a much longer warm-up with dynamic and speed drills to make sure you are ready for peak performance.
But before a marathon, you don’t want to spend too much time on speed drills and waste too much of your precious energy. So, for races between 5k to the half marathon, you need a 10 to 20 minutes jog, few dynamic drills, and maybe a few strides to make sure you are ready.
Warm-up Before Running Frequently Asked Questions:
Yes, it is, by completing a proper and an active warm-up before you begin the important part of your running, your body raises the temperature in your muscles, thus causing your body temperature to rise. This is essential for avoiding injuries, and also can improve your running performance.
Most experts agree that runners should not wait longer than 10 minutes between their warm-up and race start time unless the runners risk losing some of the benefits of the warm-up.
1) During the warm-up, DO NOT stretch cold muscles.
2) You can stretch lightly before intense running, after 10 minutes of the warm-up easy running part.
3) Ease into each stretch and don’t bounce or force it.
4) Before intense running, hold each stretch for 10-15 seconds.
5) The stretches should be part of the cool-down after a run. You should include at least a Hamstring Stretch and a Standing/ Lying Quad Stretch. Remember to stretch also the upper body and not only the legs.
The purpose of the dynamic warm-up before a run is to increase blood flow to the areas which will be working and to wake up the nervous system throughout the body. The dynamic warm-up should include:
1) A 4 to 5 minutes of running technique exercises mainly for the legs.
2) Brisk walk and/or easy run for raising the body’s temperature and enhancing the blood flow to the muscles.