How to Efficiently Warm-Up for Running

Raise your hand if you have ever been guilty of leaving for one of your runs without warming up because “it takes too long”. Or, what about doing a couple of quad and hamstring stretches and thinking “Yeah, that should be fine”. We have all been there at some point or another, am I right!?  

I’m all for being efficient with my time, but trust me when I say, warming up is KEY. I promise you will feel the difference in your body once you start making this a habit. The good news is, it doesn’t have to take long or be complicated. Let’s have a look at why we should warm up and what that could look like to better understand the importance of doing it.

What are the effects of warming up on our bodies?

When we warm up, it creates some physiological changes in our body. That means that warming up can affect our normal bodily functions.

One of these effects is to slightly increase body temperature. Of course, this must be low to moderate intensity as the goal is not to completely deplete ourselves of energy right from the start. A good way to gauge this is by using a rate of perceived effort scale from 0 to 10. 0 is no effort at all and 10 is maximum effort. For our warmup, we ideally want to be between a 3 and 5 on this scale.

Another effect of warming up before an activity is increased blood flow. By increasing blood flow, more oxygen is brought to our muscles and nerves fire better which increases muscle contraction speed and promotes better reaction time from our muscles. How great is that!?

It has also been reported that warm-ups have a positive psychological effect as it prepares us to focus on the upcoming physical activity. This is an interesting aspect as I always find I get much better enjoyment out of my runs when I am 100% focused (McGowan et al., 2015 and Woods et al., 2007).

 Ok, so what is the goal of a warm-up?

By increasing our body temperature and increasing blood flow before an activity, we are essentially preparing our body for exercise and making sure that it is a smooth transition. We are also aiming to reduce the risk of injuries by doing so.

What could a warm-up look like for runners?

Let’s get a little more specific in terms of what we could be doing in these warm-ups.

If we are talking about active warm-ups (where we actively move our body), they can be described as general or specific. There are also passive warm-ups which would include relying on external sources to increase body temperature and blood flow such as applying heat, for example. Passive warm-ups are not typically used on their own and don’t create as much change within the body. However, it has been suggested that passive warm-ups could be a good add-on in cases where we are trying to keep our body prepared after an active warm-up when there is a longer transition time before the actual activity (McGowan et al., 2015 and Woods et al., 2007).

For most runners, an active warmup will do the trick and get your body ready to perform.

An active general warm-up consists of performing the activity you’re about to do but at a much lower intensity. For runners, this would mean starting with a light jog for a few minutes (Woods et al., 2007)

As for the active specific warm-up, it can be divided into dynamic and static stretches that are tailored to the sport that is being performed. A dynamic stretch can be described as a controlled active movement. A static stretch is a slow and passive movement where we hold the position for a specific amount of time, usually at least for 30 seconds (Woods et al., 2007).

Which specific warm-up should we do as runners, static or dynamic?

This is where it gets a little bit more controversial in the running community.

It is still commonly believed that we should perform static stretches before a run to help increase performance and decrease injury risk. However, there is no current evidence to support this in the literature.

Interestingly, a study that looked at the effects of static stretching on muscle strength and power suggests that static stretching doesn’t cause any negative effects on the two variables if the stretch is held for less than 60 seconds in a recreational running population. However, they do advise using caution for high-performance athletes about static stretching (Woods et al., 2007).

On the other hand, there is evidence to suggest that dynamic stretching increases running performance in runners. There are not enough studies to conclude whether it reduces the risk of injury in runners yet ()

When we talk about warm-ups in general and their effects on the body, a study by Opplert et al. (2018) highlighted that dynamic stretching does increase the range of motion as well as muscular strength and power in comparison to static stretching. They also conclude that dynamic stretching is more efficient than static stretching before high-speed or explosive activities. This is something important to consider when working on speed runs or hill sprints, for example.

The length of the warm-up is also discussed throughout various studies. Warm-ups should usually be less than 15 minutes and right before performing the run (McGowan et al., 2015 and Woods et al., 2007).

Key takeaways for warming up as a runner:

• Keep your warm-up under 15 minutes

• Make sure you are staying at a low to moderate intensity (3 to 5 out of 10 for perceived effort)

• Include a light jog of about 5 minutes before you start your run

• Do a few dynamic stretches that activate the muscles you use for running (lunges, squats, heel raises, psoas marches, planks, butt kicks, high knees, etc.)

If you are one of those runners who still feel like you want to stretch after a run because it makes you feel good and relaxes you, then go for it. You do you! Just know that it is not mandatory for recovery and that it is not to increase performance or decrease the risk of injury.

There you have it, no more excuses for avoiding that warm-up!

Happy running,

April

  References:

1.     Chaabene, H., Behm, D. G., Negra, Y., & Granacher, U. (2019). Acute Effects of Static Stretching on Muscle Strength and Power: An Attempt to Clarify Previous Caveats. Frontiers in physiology, 10, 1468. https://doi.org/10.3389/fphys.2019.01468

2.      McGowan, C. J., Pyne, D. B., Thompson, K. G., & Rattray, B. (2015). Warm-Up Strategies for Sport and Exercise: Mechanisms and Applications. Sports medicine (Auckland, N.Z.), 45(11), 1523–1546. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40279-015-0376-x

3.      Opplert, J., & Babault, N. (2018). Acute Effects of Dynamic Stretching on Muscle Flexibility and Performance: An Analysis of the Current Literature. Sports medicine (Auckland, N.Z.), 48(2), 299–325. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40279-017-0797-9

4.      Woods, K., Bishop, P., & Jones, E. (2007). Warm-up and stretching in the prevention of muscular injury. Sports medicine (Auckland, N.Z.), 37(12), 1089–1099. https://doi.org/10.2165/00007256-200737120-00006