20 Aug, 2021
The pro's of warming-up: The principle of warming up before running/jogging or doing any physical exercise really, is to loosen up your muscles and hence the name, warm your muscles up so they can stretch and contract more easily to prevent any muscle tears or unneeded strains. Generally your stretch and warm-up the muscles groups your will mainly be using before exercise but it is definitely beneficial to warm-up the full body and muscle groups. Examples of warm-up exercises for runners: Warm-ups may vary in length as each exercise is different from the last. But generally a warm-up should last 5-10 minutes, this is just a guideline as you don't want to over work your muscles before you even start to exercise and likewise, don't want to start a run without stretching out properly or for long enough. Here are some examples of exercises you can do before you go on a run: Walking lunges: These compound movements warm up both the upper and lower leg and the glutes at the same time, which is ideal for running as you will mainly using those muscle groups when running. See the image below for a step by step guide how to properly perform a lunge. (make sure you don't let your knee go over your toes when you go down into the lunge)