Running Stretches Help Get the Body Ready for Running
When you do warm up and then stretching, you are preparing the body for other types of activities. This is important to loosen the muscles and get your blood circulating. The muscles need to be flexible to prevent injury to the body. Using the proper techniques for warm up and stretches is important, you do not want to exercise, just get the muscles ready for your running routine.
Whether to stretch or not becomes a personal choice, but professionals recommend a warm up, leading into some stretching routines before any type of activity. Once you warm your muscles up properly, the chance of an injury is relatively small. Many runners and athletes prefer to warm up and then run, but without the stretching, your muscles remain tight.
Do This and Do Not Do This
Some things to remember when stretching remember a few good tips: always warm up and lead into a stretching routine. Rhythmic and slow static stretching woks the best for loosening the muscles and helps circulation. Take notice of your breathing and breathe from the stomach not the chest. After this you relax a little bit and then onto the running program.
If you have injured muscles stretching is not recommended, further injury can result. Never rush through your stretches, take it slow and relax. If for some reason you experience pain with a stretching movement discontinue and move onto the next one. Sticking with a stretch that hurts, will not accomplish anything but will cause injury to the muscles.
Why Should You Warm up and Cool Down
This practice needs to get the blood moving and is not something you can forget about if you plan to stay injury free. If your muscles are cold you will only cause cramping or worst. You would never jump in your car on a cold day, start the engine, and drive off without letting it warm up first. The same thing holes true for the body, it needs to be started and warmed up before doing any stretches or running.
The cool down keeps the blood circulating as it slowly works down to a relaxed flow. This important step prevents cramping and tightening of the muscles. Allowing your body to go from exertion to rest without a cool down can result in stiff muscles and cause fatigue.
Stretching exercises, only need to be done for a short time, usually ten minutes is sufficient for preparing the body for a running routine. Stretches for the particular muscles you will be using during the run prepares these specific muscles for movements needed to run.
Always remember to stretch the muscles evenly on both sides of your body this keeps both sides equal. Never over stretch the muscles, a slow work up recommends performing the stretch slow and let the muscles adjusted. When stretching, do a stretch that is smooth and flows, do not do bouncing or jerky motions, this will cause the muscles to tighten up. With proper breathing and slow stretching motions, the body gradually loosens the muscles.
What Muscles should you Do
When doing some stretching exercises, some important muscles to work with are the hamstring. To do this sit on the floor extend the leg outwards, while the other leg is slightly bent. The back should remain straight as you bend at the waist. Do not over stretch when doing stretches; bend only until you feel comfortable.
Stretch the hips by lying on your back and pulling your leg towards your stomach area while wrapping tour hands around the knee. You need to repeat this on the other leg after releasing the first leg. Hold stretch for ten seconds each.
The lower back muscles stretch by lying on the floor and bring both legs up to your stomach while they are slightly bent. This stretch loosens the back muscles and prepares them for running. The quadriceps and calves need stretching also and many different stretches you can incorporate into the stretching routine for these muscles.
People tend to forget about arm stretches, the arms move as you run and need stretching as well. Raise one arm over your head and with the other one reach over the head and grab the elbow. Repeat this for the other one once you finish. This helps loosen up the arm muscles.
Stretch Means What
The range of motion affects the joints. These parts move as the body exercises and they require the proper stretches to stay functional. Flexibility and stretches work together to increase a range of motion that is functional. The active stretch works the joint together with strengthening and stretching. These stretches help stretch the tissues and muscle in preparing for the running routine.
The Stride and your Hips
The stride does not need a great deal of motion range since the knee is kept relatively straight except for the slight bend in movement. A squat stretch works well for preparing the knee for running. The hip on the other hand, reflects on your speed while controlling the stride length. The hip flexibly comes from doing some lunges as well as other types of stretching routines. The more you prepare your hips the better your stride becomes and allows for more speed. The push off and your frequency of strides comes from the hip as well. This explains why you need to do stretches that affect the hips when performing stretch routines.
