One of the many concepts that runners must confront is
warm-up. Warm-up’s are tricky: what do you do for a warm-up, how to you go
about it, and what are you looking to get out of it. For years, many people
simply stretched, then as research trended for a more active routine, they
jogged a couple slow laps and then stretched. But, stretching will diminish
your body’s ability to perform at a peak level for 30-40 minutes—not the goal
of a warm-up—and it has been shown to be of no real consequence when it comes
to injury prevention. Today, we now know that a dynamic, active routine is the
best overall solution.
Thus we work with our runners and have them use the
following lunge routine before their steady runs. These lunges warm the body
up, work on movements in all planes of movement, engage the core and leg
muscles to build strength, and in the end improve athleticism. We do a total of
five lunge exercises, doing five reps per leg. Once five becomes easy, you can
consider going to ten.
1. Forward
lunge:
a. Step
into a lunge forward. Be sure that you keep your knee above or behind the ankle
to avoid putting a great deal of tension into the knee and risking injury.
Lateral Lunge |
2. Side/Lateral
lunge:
a. Step
to the side, pushing your rear back a bit as you fall into the lunge. Be sure
to keep the knee and ankle placement as described above. To do so, you may need
to ensure that the center of gravity is slightly back.
3. Back
and to the side:
a. Step
backwards at a 45 degree angle into a lunge
4. Forward
lunge as a twist
a. Same
movement as the forward lunge but with an added twist. Twist your torso, toward
the forward leg as you step into the lunge.
5. Backward
lunge:
a. Same
form as a forward lunge except that you step back into it instead of stepping
forward
See this video if you have
questions. He has her do them in a different order, but it is the same thing
Outside of lunges, I warm-up with the following two exercise
as well:
Ankle jumps: Stationary jumps where
you jump from your toes, landing forefoot first and then kissing the heel to
the ground. Complete around 20-30 to work on landing pattern for faster running
and explosion.
100 Ups: Literally marching in pace
slowly, this video will do it best ,
but be sure to tense the muscle in your support leg to practice support work.
This is a form exercise that is great for warm-up. Complete anywhere from 25-50 with each leg.
Enjoy!
Great work! Love seeing promotion of the 3D Lunge Matrix. So many runners hear or read "stretching is bad for you before a run" and use it as an excuse to perform no warm up at all. The research that linked impaired exercise performance involved holding static stretches for a duration of 60 seconds. In my opinion & experience, dynamic stretching & mobility drills can play a major part in helping runners reduce incidence of injury.
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