With the brisk winter mornings already here, it’s important to include a good active warm up to get your muscles turning on and ready for exercise. We thought this was a good time to run through a few strategies that I include in my warm up before I set out for a run.
In this current environment where gyms are still closed and team sport has yet to re-commence, running may have become our main source of exercise. It is important to make sure we’re warming up properly to reduce our risk of injury.
Why do I need to warm up?
The aim of a warm up is to increase blood flow to the muscles and help lubricate our joints. This helps prepare our bodies for exercise and ensure they can take on increased stress and load. A good warm up should include movements across all the necessary joints for your chosen form of exercise and take between 10-15 minutes.
Some of the benefits include:
– Increased blood flow to joints and muscles.
– Helps improve the lubrication of our joints, for improved movement.
– Increased energy production.
– Lowered risk of injury.
– Mental preparation for exercise.
– Studies have shown that performance is improved at a higher body temperature.
Different Ways to warm up
There are a number of ways we can get our bodies ready for exercise. I will highlight some basic strategies we can implement and some more involved strategies. Each aim to prepare our bodies for activity no matter your level of fitness.
When it comes to those that are new to running or increasing the volume of running, I feel there are a few basics that everyone can implement.
Walk before you can run
You might have heard the saying, ‘you have to walk before you can run’.
I cannot agree more.
I like this saying; maybe not in the exact context it is meant to be applied. However, I feel it really sums up the idea of allowing our bodies to adapt to a lower level (lighter loaded activity) before progressing it to a high level (more demanding activity). This is the essence to what warming up our bodies is all about.
Simple walking can be a great way of getting the blood flowing through the similar muscles you are going to use for running. It is a lower intensity than running, which is a perfect way to slowly increase the loads on your joints and muscles.
The great thing about walking is you can slowly increase your speed as you go to further promote your bodies warm up and bring it closer to a running movement.
I also promote people to engage a larger and more pronounced arm swing. A larger arm swing increases the rotation of your hips and back. This will help improve the muscle engagement and warm up the hip and back muscles.
I recommend people to take at least 5-10mins using a gradual increase in walking intensity prior to commencing a slow jog.
Jogging Intensity
The intensity of your jogging speed can also be a very effective way of warming your body up. It’s important with all forms or activity that we perform similar movements that are expected in our chosen activity. With running that’s simple! Jogging at a slow pace initially for up to 5 minutes will make sure you are warm and ready for your run.
As you can see simple graduated walking, increased arm swing and light jogging can be incorporated into anyone’s running session. This is a basic strategy to get your body ready to enjoy a run!
If you have a little more time and are looking to push your running speed and duration you may find the next section helpful. These are some other strategies you can adopt to further prepare your body to the demands of running.
We are not suggesting you need to do them all, however you may incorporate 1 or 2 into your warm up plan.
Before you leave the house
Foam rolling and muscle mobility exercises:
Mobilising the muscles before a run is no different to a sports person getting a rub down on their legs before they run out onto the field to play. We may not have the luxury of someone to help us with this, however, there are some great ways we can still achieve a similar benefit.
Foam rolling is simply a self-massage modality that can be used to great effect. There are a variety of ways of using it to promote increased mobility and blood flow to our muscles.
Spend a few minutes working through some key muscles groups, such as your calves, shins and thighs. You can also pick areas that you are generally a little stiffer, to ensure they are warm and moving a little better before setting off for your run.
If you’re new to foam rolling it’s best to start off with a more gentle approach. I like to start with rolling out one leg at a time. This applies less pressure on the muscle and allows more control of the movement. As you become more accustomed to foam rolling, you may cross one leg over the other to apply more pressure through the muscles.
A good way to wake up the small intrinsic muscles of the foot is to work through the arch with a tennis ball. Roll the ball back and forth through the arch.
Hip and lower back rotation:
This exercise targets the hips and lower back to get them warm and moving well before you head out for your run.
Lying on your back with knees together. Slowly rotate your knees side to side for approximately 60 seconds.
Dynamic movements:
Dynamic movements are movements that involve multiple joints and typically start with a slow movement that builds to more dynamic or faster paced movement.
This type of warm up strategy assists in getting your muscles prepared for the rapid loading and tension your muscles will be under while running. As I mentioned earlier it is important to introduce similar style loads on the muscles to the activity you are preparing for. Running is a more rapidly loading activity which forces our muscles to move from a contracted state to a lengthened state rather quickly. Therefore, we included a few ways you can incorporate some dynamic movements into your warm up.
1. Calf raises
Increasing the load progressively. Starting with double leg calf raises, moving to single leg. These exercises are not a balance test so use a support to keep you steady.
The final stage is single leg knee drives, which ultimate put together a more dynamic movement for the whole body. You can do this slowly to start and build up the speed at which you perform the movement. You can even increase this to include a small hop, which further simulates the propulsion during running. Aim to do 10-12 repetitions on each foot.
2. Walking lunges:
Lunges prepare the hips, knees, ankle and joints of the foot for movement as well the muscles across these joints.
Start with slow movement and build up the dynamic nature with a faster drive back up to the starting posture.
Adding in some arm swing and shoulder rotation is a great way to improve the warm up.
Aim to do 10-20 walking lunges.
3. Leg swings:
This is great to do after you have done a warm up walk, prior to commencing your run. Grab onto a nearby tree, park bench or fence and get your legs moving with some leg swings. Forward leg swings and side to side leg swings help to get the hips and lower leg warmed up. Aim to complete 20-60 seconds of both movements on each leg before you get going on your run. Again slow to begin and gradually increasing the speed and height of the leg swings.
Final warm up advice:
If you’re recently returning from an injury or niggle, it is important to spend some extra time warming up these structures. For example, someone recovering from an Achilles tendon injury may need some more focused warm up exercises for the calf and ankle joint.
Please remember this is to be used simply as a guide to helping you understand the importance of warming up your body and also as a reference to some simple strategies you can employ. There are numerous ways you can achieve an effective warm up and by no means has our list exhausted this.
Fluid Movement Podiatry is passionate about helping people get the most out of their activity. If you need more assistance, we can guide you with individual warm up and training plans that are specific to your body and level of activity. We are also here to assist with any foot or lower leg niggle/injury you may be struggling with. Please feel free to contact us if you have any questions as to how we may assist.
We hope you found this post helpful. Happy running…
All the best
Ben and Stuart
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