How To Warm Up Before Your Run

Here at LB Physiotherapy on Chorley New Road, Bolton, we’ve been seeing patients training for the Manchester 10K. With less than 24 hours to go, we wanted to share with you our opinions and ideas on how to warm up before a run. 

Waking up feeling nervous and excited is only natural, especially the morning of a big event like the Manchester 10k. Has all the training paid off? Will I be able to complete the distance? Will I do it in the time I want? What happens if I get injured? 

All these thoughts and feelings will be running through yours and plenty of runners heads tomorrow morning! Don’t worry, it will all be worth it when you cross the line, get that medal around your neck and pick up your t-shirt to prove you ran the Manchester 10k :) .

With those pre-race thoughts and nerves in mind, this blog will guide you through a good warm up to help reduce the chances of you getting injured tomorrow. So there’s no need to worry about picking up an injury, we can help take care of that for you with this blog!

Why should I warm up before I run?

A warm up is designed to prepare the body for the task ahead. In this case a 10k run is the challenge, so a specific running related warm up is required. A warm up raises the pulse and increases the heart rate. By doing this the heart can pump oxygenated blood around the body faster. This will allow the muscles of the legs to function better in the first stage of the run. If a muscle is warm and full of oxygenated blood it has what it requires to function at its best. So warming up will help to prepare the muscles of the legs looking to reduce the risk of a muscle strain in the first couple of kilometres.

 What should a warm up look like? 

A warm up should be specific to running. It should involve an exercise to raise your heart rate looking to increase blood flow around the body, along with some dynamic stretches and muscle activation exercises. We then advise any specific exercises or stretches given by your Physio or trainer to make sure any previous injuries are taken care off and don’t rear their ugly head during the run. As an example we have given you a warm up below: 

1.    Brisk walk 2 minutes

2.    Gentle jog 3 minutes

3.    Dynamic stretches for glutes, hamstrings, calves and quads.

4.    Muscle activation exercises 

5.    Specific exercises or stretches advised by your Physio/trainer.

6.    5 minute medium paced jog

This example warm up will take you 15-20 minutes and is, in our experience, the most effective way to warm up prior to a run.

When should I complete my warm up? 

Your warm up should be completed within 90 minutes of your start time. We advise you complete the warm up as close to the start time as possible, however sometimes this isn’t possible with travel arrangements, facilities and space, so as long as the warm up is performed within 90 minutes of the run it will do what it is intended to do.

 We hope the above information and guidance around warming up will help you on race day, tomorrow morning. If you would like any more information or details on specific dynamic stretches, contact us and we can send you over a short video demonstrating how to stretch correctly. 

Good luck tomorrow everyone! Enjoy the Manchester 10K and, of course, that celebratory drink afterwards.

LB Physiotherapy is located at 13 Chorley New Road, Bolton and was founded by friends, David and Stephen. We are a Greater Manchester physio clinic that specialises in injury prevention for athletes, sports injuries and of course any aches and pains related to running. Of course, we hope that your race will be injury free but should you need any physio advice or treatment, please do not hesitate to contact us on 01204 800727.