When to Stretch???

Yuri Elkaim, BPHE, CK, RHN
myTreadmillTrainer.com

Do you stretch before you run? I certainly hope NOT! Learn how to warm-up and stretch properly to avoid injuries! Here are a few exercises to help you warm up dynamically before you run.

Lunge walks with twist to opposite knee

Lunge walks are a great exercise, but they are also a great dynamic movement. That is because we are involving all of the running muscles. We are involving all of the muscles in the legs and we are getting a bit of a twist through the oblique muscles in the abdominals which is very important.

For this exercise, as you lunge, take your right elbow to your left knee as you go down. Follow that up with another lunge where your left elbow will head toward your right knee. Focus on stability. Your torso should not be waving from side to side. Stay nice and stable through the core but get a nice range of motion through the obliques. You should be very strong and tall throughout this exercise.

If you choose to go a bit further, you can touch down to your ankle with your hand rather than touch your elbow to your knee. Once you’re done, jog back to your starting spot and go into the next exercise.

Lunge walks with knee pulls

With these lung walks you are getting a little bit more of a stretch. After you lunge down and push up, bring the back leg though and grab your shin with your hand. Give your leg a pull nice and strong toward your chest.

This will give you a nice stretch in the back of the leg that is being pulled up. If you want to go further with this movement to challenge your balance and stability, you can push up on the toe of the supporting leg to get the calves working as well. Be sure to get that nice pull into the chest. Really feel that nice stretch in the back of the leg, the hamstring and the glutes. Remember, form is essential!

Straight leg kicks/walks

During this exercise, you will take your leg and kick it straight in front of you every step or two while walking so that your legs form a right angle to each other, and your active leg is perpendicular to your chest (or further) and is at its furthest range of motion. Alternate legs every time, and kick your leg straight out in front of you, nice and high.

Keep your torso nice and tall and your abdominal muscles nice and strong so that you do not bend forward. The purpose of this exercise is to stretch out the hamstrings. We need to get the hamstrings going through a good range of motion. This is very important for running because the hamstrings are integral to the forward propulsion of running mechanics.

Be sure to do two sets of these three exercises. You will fell your body getting nice and warm midway through. You will also notice that your muscles are starting to really limber up.

Lunge with reverse hamstring stretch

In this exercise you are going to go from a lunge into a straight leg extension. Get into a deep lunge. For example: Have your right leg forward and your left leg back. Place your right forearm toward the floor on the inside of your right leg, elbow at the knee and hand pointing to the left.

Then, straighten out your right leg and move your left heel toward the floor while placing your right hand on the outside of your right leg for stability purposes. This will stretch out the right leg from the upper hamstring to the belly of the hamstring.

You can do 5, 6, 7, 8, as many as you want on one leg and then switch it up and do the same number of repetitions on the other leg. The key is to keep it dynamic. You do not want to hold it in any position, just keep moving. Down and forward, up and back. Down and forward, up and back. If you are flexible, you should be able to fully straighten out your leg as you extend back.

No matter where your body is flexibility-wise, you will feel a stretch as you go through this.

When you’re done, shake it out, and run it off.

=> CLICK HERE to get started with the Treadmill Trainer interval training workouts!