The Importance of Warming Up Before Running

Following and sticking to an exercise routine or running plan can be time consuming, however there is one crucial step that should not be missed. No matter how busy you are, even if you’ve only got an hour, you must not skip your warmup.

Similarly, it’s also important to cool down again afterwards. Skipping these two crucial steps in your workouts could actually do you more harm than you realise.

In this blog we’re going to look at the following:

• Why is warming up important?
• Which muscles should you focus on?
• How to warm up.
• Why is cooling down important?

Why is Warming Up Important?

You’ve probably heard this before but warming up before any kind of exercise is important for many reasons and can actually improve your performance. Here are some of the benefits of warming up.

Prevents Injuries:

Many running injuries can be prevented by doing a quick warmup before you set off. Warming up loosens joints, and improves blood flow to the muscles making them less likely to tear or twist in a damaging way during your workout.

Improved Blood Flow:

Doing a 10-minute warm up gets the blood flowing to the skeletal muscles and opens the blood capillaries. Blood carries oxygen to the muscles which they need to function.

Improved Oxygen Efficiency:

The muscles need more oxygen during exercise. During warmup exercise, oxygen is released from the blood more readily, making it available to the muscles.

Faster Muscle Contraction/Relaxation:

Warmup increases body temperature, this in turn improves nerve transmission and muscle metabolism. This means that the muscles perform faster and more efficiently.

Mental Preparation:

Apart from the physical benefits of warming up, it can also help improve focus. If carried from warmup to training, you may also be able to improve technique, coordination, and skill.

Improved Performance:

All of the above benefits of warming up will inevitably improve your overall athletic performance.

Which muscles should you focus on?

Legs: Quads, glutes, hamstrings, calves.

Core: Abs & lower back.

Arms: Maintaining upper body strength helps with balance.

Hips: Hip flexors & abductors- helps to maintain form.

How to warm up.

Warming up can take as little as 15 minutes and should involve a combination of light cardio exercise and dynamic stretching.

Cardio:

The cardio portion of your warmup should be done first and will take 5-10 minutes, just long enough to raise your heart rate and get the blood pumping. Make sure to go slowly, it’s only the warmup after all. Ideal warmup cardio exercises:

• Light jog
• Brisk walk
• Jogging on the spot.
• Skipping
• Light cycling

Stretches:

It’s important to avoid static stretching during your warmup, even if you’ve done your 10 minutes of cardio you can still be at risk of overstretching and causing yourself a serious injury if you’re not fully warmed up yet.

Try to stick to dynamic stretches, these are stretches that involve some form of movement and help prepare the muscles and improve flexibility. They also help increase range of motion, joint mobility, and continue to keep the heart rate raised after cardio.

Some examples of dynamic stretches:

• Leg swings- improves mobility of hip flexors.
• Lunges- forwards, sideways, reverse- stretches quads.
• Marching hurdles.
• Arm circle- improve shoulder mobility.
• Ankle circles- for ankle mobility, relaxes ligaments and tendons.

Why is Cooling Down Important?

Once you finish a run, your workout shouldn’t end there. Cooling down afterwards gradually brings your heart rate back down to a normal level, helps regulate blood flow, and prevents injuries.

Making sure to include a short cool down routine at the end of your run will aid your overall recovery.

Cool down exercises:

Like warming up, your cool down routine only needs to take around 5-10 minutes and should consist of both light cardio and stretching.

Cardio: Slowing your pace to a light jog or even a walk will help to gradually bring your heart rate down after a run.

Stretching: Unlike the warmup, for cool down you can do some static stretches. This will help to stretch out your muscles again while they’re still warm and reduce delayed onset muscle soreness and risk of injury. Static stretches ideal for your cooldown routine include: hamstring stretch, lunges, shoulder stretch, etc.

Now that you’ve taken the time to cool down you should be well on your way to a speedy recovery.

Related Articles:

Tips to Prevent and Treat Runner’s Knee 

Effective Strategies to Prevent Running Injuries