How to warm up for running?

Warm-up exercises are good for fitness and health. So do you know how to warm up for fitness exercises in daily life? In fact, doing enough warm-up exercises before fitness can prevent sports injuries. Therefore, for people who want to exercise, they must understand how to do warm-up exercises. There are many benefits to doing warm-up exercises before fitness. The editor will tell you about them below. Don’t fall into misunderstandings.

Doing a few minutes of warm-up exercises before a training session or game is a great way to prepare your body and mind. Warming up stimulates the brain and prepares your body for more intense exercise. Warming up can also prevent you from straining your muscles due to sudden exertion during exercise. Many other injuries can be prevented with a proper warm-up.

It is best to start your warm-up with systematic stretching exercises. Stretch slowly, avoid sudden force, and be sure not to exert force on the part of the muscle being stretched.

After stretching, you should do some general warm-up exercises, such as light running and jumping on the spot, which can not only mobilize the internal organs but also warm up the joints throughout the body. You may find that many people start strenuous exercise without warming up, but don't do that because you know that warming up makes you healthy and helps you win.

There is one more thing I want to remind you, that is, don't use up all your energy before training or competition starts!

The main muscles that should be stretched during warm-up

Stretch the posterior thigh muscles

Sit on the ground, straighten the leg you want to stretch in front of you, bend the other leg, and keep the outside of the entire leg close to the ground, with the straight leg

Make your legs into a triangle shape, straighten your back, bend forward from your hips as much as possible, grab the toes of your straightened legs with both hands, and maintain this position for 20 minutes. No bouncing is allowed when your hands touch your toes (it doesn't matter if you can't touch your toes).

Stretching the inner thigh muscles - Method 1

Sit with the soles of your feet close to each other, push your knees outward and as close to the ground as possible, hold your ankles with both hands, maintain this position, count to 10, relax, and repeat 3 times

Stretching the inner thigh muscles - Method 2

Sit with your feet straight and apart in front of you. Keep your back and knees straight. Bend forward from your hips.

Grab the ankles of both legs with the inside of the legs and maintain this position, feeling the inner thighs being stretched and relaxed, and then repeatedly stretch the calf (back) muscles

Bend over, support your body with your arms and one leg (straight, toes on the ground), bend the other leg in front of your body and relax your body's center of gravity on the toes of the supporting foot, push your heels back and down, feel the muscles in the back of your calves being stretched, keep them tense, count to 10 and relax, repeat 3 times, then switch to the other leg and do 3 times

Stretching your back muscles

Lie on your back, lift one leg, grab the end of the thigh near the knee, and pull it towards your chest. Keep the other leg straight and close to the ground. Keep your head on the ground and keep the position. Count to 10 and repeat 3 times, then switch legs.

Stretching the shoulder muscles - Method 1

Use one hand to grab the elbow of the opposite arm from the outside and back, pull it to the opposite side of the grabbed arm, hold the position for 10, repeat 3 times, and then stretch the shoulder on the other side.

Stretching the shoulder muscles - Method 2

Cross your fingers above your head and hold them together, with your palms facing up, stretch your arms upward and backward and hold for 15 seconds

Stretching shoulder muscles - Method 3

Stretch one arm upward, then bend the forearm behind the head, relax, and use the opposite hand to grab the elbow from behind the head, slowly pulling to the opposite side and hold for 15 seconds.

1. How long should you warm up?

It takes about 3 minutes for the body to realize how much blood it needs to send to the muscles. Warm-up exercises should last approximately 5-10 minutes and should be accompanied by stretching of the major muscle groups.

2. Why is warming up important?

To ensure safety, it is generally necessary to do a warm-up exercise before fitness exercise. The main purpose of warm-up exercise is to slightly increase the heart rate. It has two benefits:

①Can raise the body temperature of major parts of the body

② It can make more blood (oxygen) flow to the muscles, thus preparing the body for more intense activities

Stretching after light activity makes tendons more flexible because it increases body temperature and increases joint range of motion, thereby preventing joint, ligament and muscle injuries.

3. Which muscles need to be warmed up?

Warm-up exercises should focus on large muscle groups. Practitioners can warm up their legs by marching in place, turning their waists, and raising their knees. For the chest and shoulders, they can do turns, raise their arms and walk in circles, etc. Those who prefer a treadmill or skipping rope can start with 3-5 minutes of brisk walking, as well as some stretching exercises.

The editor recommends relaxing after exercise, that is, after you have reached and maintained a certain exercise heart rate, it is very important to recover slowly. The body needs to supply more blood to the muscles for about 3 minutes to avoid muscle soreness and tightness. Therefore, relaxation is very important in the later stages of exercise.