Warm Up Right: Best Exercises to Prep for Your Runs

Arguably the most important part of your running workout is the warmup. If you fail to do this, there is an increased chance of injury and a general decrease in the quality of the workout. There are a ton of different warm up exercises that you can do but this post will cover the best ones that I have found. Within a warm up it is imperative that you perform exercises that focus on all the different muscle groups in your legs that way every part of your legs are ready to go for the workout. I like to do each exercise for 20-30 meters but that is more of a personal preference. I would not go any shorter than 15 meters though. For starters, I like to take a light warm up lap around the track, which is about 400 meters if you are not at a track, then I get into the dynamic exercises. It is important to make sure that your warm up exercises are dynamic so that your legs can get accustomed to moving and the different muscle groups have time to warm up before jumping into the workout. I like to start off with heel and toe walks which are pretty simple. All you have to do is stand on either the toe or heel of your feet and walk the desired distance. After doing those, I would recommend doing a hamstring focused exercise like hamstring scoops, Frankenstiens or walking single leg RDLs (bend at the hips and swing your leg back up behind you to stretch out your hamstrings). Then I move into quad exercises and my favorites to do are your typical quad stretch or you complicate it a bit by grabbing your left leg with your right hand and pulling behind like a typical quad stretch then repeating for the other side. Next up I do some groin focused exercises like walking side lunges, open and close the gate, or nose to toes. Lastly, I finish with some IT band exercises like IT band scoops (same as hamstring scoops but you cross your legs) or figure 4 (make a 4 by placing one foot on the opposite knee and then squatting till you feel a stretch. Those are some of my favorite warm up exercises and these will most definitely benefit your workouts!