Warm up for Running
Have you ever tried running without doing a warm up? If you have, sooner or later you will get really tired or your muscles will hurt. Here are some steps to doing a proper warm up before running. You can follow the same steps after you run for cooling down.
Steps
- Before you run, stretch your legs. The big mistake is, that most people forget to do this, and With this, your muscles tighten up too much, causing sometimes extreme soreness as well as muscle cramps.
- Do some drills, to wake up your muscles.
- Do some short yet moderately fast sprints, this is can be very helpful, as it contributes to warming up for the run.
- Don't go too fast at first. You want to start off at an easy, working and yet maintainable pace. Once you are warmed up, you can build your speed up a little more.
- Look up. When you run, try not to pay too much attention to your feet (yes, people will be running and looking down at their feet, its common) - try to think of something else, something happier, or even listen to music on an iPod or MP3 Player and go to the beat of the music. Be aware of what's, around you, like cars, road bikers, and so forth; you want to keep yourself safe while being mentally focused on your run!
- Stretch your legs afterwards. It is extremely important that you stretch before and after your workout. You won't like the feeling of super tight yet sore muscles, especially if you're just starting to run.
Tips
- Make sure you're feeling energized before running. Splash water all over your face, or take a nice, hot shower to soothe your muscles.
- Eat fruits that are healthy. Apples, oranges, pears, bananas, grapes, they're all good.
- Be sure to hold each stretch for at least fifteen seconds. Not only will this warm you up, but if you increase the pull or the length of the stretch, then it will also increase flexibility.
