The perfect warm up doesn’t exist, that’s because we’re all unique and what works best for one person doesn’t necessarily work for another. But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t warm up. You don’t have to be an Olympic athlete to reap the benefits of a warm up before your run. Whether you’re doing Couch to 5k or preparing for a marathon, warm ups should be an essential part of your training.

Mica Moore is a GB sprinter and bobsleigh athlete who has competed in both the Commonwealth Games and the Winter Olympics. For explosive athletes like Mica, a warm up is crucial. Her body needs to be warm and prepared to go from zero to maximum effort in milliseconds. That’s why we spoke to her about the benefits of doing a warm up and her favourite movements before a run.

Why You Need to Warm Up Before Running

When you run, you’re putting your body through extreme stress, so you need to make sure that your muscles and joints are ready to go. In the same way that you wouldn’t go straight to your max weight on a lift in the gym, you can’t just go from zero to 100% on a run. It’s important to prepare your body for the workload, even if it’s just for 10 minutes.

The Benefits of Warming Up Before a Run

Reduced Injury Risk

When you run your body, and in particular your legs move through a large range of motion. If your muscles are tight or shortened before a run this could increase the risk of pulls and tears. Dynamic stretches are an active movement that take you through your full range of motion and help to lengthen the muscles in preparation.

Improved Performance

By slowly increasing your heart rate before training, this will increase blood flow. This increase in blood flow can improve VO2 max and the amount of oxygen that is readily available at the muscle to use when running.

The Perfect Running Accessory

Resistance Bands should be a key part of your pre-run routine. Not only do they help you stretch, but they can also be used to activate certain muscles such as the glutes, quads, and hamstrings to get them ready to run. Resistance bands can be taken anywhere, whether you’re running from home, work or you’re out on the trails, there’s no reason not to warm up. Once you’re done you can easily fit a resistance band into your pocket or running vest to be stored away.

Resistance Band Warm Up

Hamstring swipe - Dynamic movement that stretches the hamstring muscles.

Calf stretch - Stretches the calf muscles.

Pigeon stretch - Opens up the glutes and hip flexors.

Banded leg stretch - Stretches the bottom of the foot as well as the hamstrings.

Lunges – Opens the hip joint as well as activates the quads, hamstrings and glutes.

Banded thoracic twist - Mobilises the top of the spine.

Banded hip flexion pull through - Opens up the hip flexor muscles.

Crab walks - Engages the hips and activates the glute muscles.

Do you have to do all of these exercises before a run? Absolutely not. Start by focusing on an area that you know needs work (i.e tight hamstrings) and hone in on that. If you don’t have a specific area to target, choose 3-4 of the above exercises and complete 1-2 rounds of each for 30 seconds. You’ll soon start reaping the rewards.

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Tags: Exercise Type > Warm Ups and Cool Downs ; Misc > Mirafit Ambassadors ; Misc > Workouts