The following is part one of a six part article written by Coach Ison about warm-ups, stretching, and cooling down. The article will review why a runner should warm-up first, provide a sample warm-up routine, discuss why a runner should stretch, provide a sample of "dynamic stretching," and provide a sample of cool down stretching.
The proposed routines in this article are designed to help provide a guide on how to properly warm up and stretch prior to running and what to do after the workout. There are many warm-up, stretching, and cool down routines out there for runners, as many of them work for the individual. The routines I propose are a modern adaptation of those that have been used by many teams over the years with great success. Over the years I have found that these routines have greatly reduced the amount of injury in the athletes using it, as is the intent of a warm-up and stretching routine. Some changes have been made to take into consideration modern research and expert opinions on stretching for runners.
The key thing to this routine or any routine that you choose to use for warming up, stretching and cool down is consistency. A lot of runners will suddenly change their warm-up and stretching routine prior to a big race because they feel they need to be extra prepared or extra loose. However, this could not be further from the truth. As my college coach once said to me, "If you're used to not stretching, then don't stretch." His intent wasn't to encourage me not to stretch, but to stretch consistently. Runners also are so caught up after a race that they forget to cool down, but cool down speeds recovery.
