Going for a jog on a regular basis is a great way to maintain your health and allows for social distancing. Running can keep your cardio-vascular system healthy and also improve your body’s overall stamina. Running on a regular basis will also keep you feeling energetic throughout the day and will go a long way towards helping you maintain a healthy lifestyle. Part of what keeps runners fit and healthy has a lot to do with their warm up and cool down routines. Giving your body time to warm up before a run and cool down after you finish is important. A good warm up/cool down routine can help keep your body injury-free, and will help you get the most out of your work out. If you are unsure what type of warm up and cool down methods will work best, you may want to try a few of the techniques described below.

Warm Ups

Your warm up is the best way to prepare your body for the intensity of your work out. A good warm up will do a few things for you and your body. It helps to increase your heart rate as well as your breath rate which will increase the blood flow throughout your body, allowing oxygen to more easily reach your muscles and prevent you from cramping during the run. A good warm up will also stimulate your muscles and help to remove tightness you may be feeling to allow for better movement during the run. There are many ways to get warmed up before a run, but including a dynamic warm up is important.

Dynamic Warm-ups Can Include:
• Walking Lunges
• High Kicks
• Knee Highs
• Arm Circles
• Hip Rotations/Leg Swings
• Butt kicks

Cool Down

After you have finished your run, it is equally important to incorporate some static stretches into your cool down routine. Unlike the dynamic stretches from your warm up that keep your body moving while you loosen up your muscles, static stretches are done from a stationary position. Performing static stretches will keep your body from feeling stiff and sore later on, prevent more serious injuries, improve your flexibility and will flush out lactic acid in your muscles.

Try some of these techniques in your cool down routine:

• Static Stretching (hamstrings, quads, calves)
• Walking or Slow Jog
• Foam Rolling
• Deep Breathing
• Rehydrate

If you have questions about your warm up or cool down, or want your running technique assessed, call Physiohaus or book into our RunLAB!