Warm up and Stretching Exercises: A Runner’s Checklist

Warm up and stretching exercises are an important part in running. It helps the runner prepare mentally and physically before engaging in a strenuous activity ahead. However, appropriate warm up and stretching technique should be performed to take full advantage of them.

Warming up consists of mild physical activities that increases the heart rate and dilates the blood vessels for better oxygen distribution in the body. This provides sufficient energy in the muscles, thus increasing the runner’s endurance when running. For runners, below are lists that you can check to serve as a guideline to determine if you are doing warming exercises the right way:

Here’s the checklist:

1. I pick out an appropriate pair of shoes before warming up and running;

2. I make sure that is the shoes intended for running such as Adidas Marathon and Adidas Rava Microbounce and not any other kind of shoes such as training shoes and basketball shoes;

3. I start my warm up exercises by walking for five minutes;

4. I never jump right into running;

5. I continue walking while picking up the pace until I start jogging;

6. I jog for the next five minutes and try to gear up for a run;

7. I also make use of other aerobic exercises to warm up before running. This includes swimming, yoga and cycling;

8. I try to determine my running speed before I actually start my running session;

9. I continue jogging for the next twenty minutes.

Stretching on the other hand, plays a crucial part in warming up. This should also be done appropriately since several issues regarding the safety of each stretching techniques are still in question.

Here’s the checklist:

1. I do stretching exercises after I completed my twenty-minute jog;

2. I never proceed to stretching not unless my muscles are thoroughly warm;

3. I never stretch cold muscles since it can damage it further;

4. I start stretching my muscles from head to toe;

5. I never stretch my muscles to the point that I feel pain or resistance;

6. I never stretch for too long;

7. I pay particular attention in stretching my thigh and leg muscles;

8. After stretching, I go back to jogging before I start my race on running.

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