Hands up if you did at least five minutes of mobilising moves and pulse-raising exercise before your last run. Keep your hand up if you also finished with some gentle walking and static stretches. Kudos to you if your hand is still raised; if it's not, join the clan. Despite evidence a warm-up will make most folk more efficient at running, or that a cool-down will enhance recovery and help guard against future injury, anecdotal data reveals a lot of us runners are skipping these pre-run rituals. But with recent research in The Journal of Strength and Conditioning showing that runners who performed dynamic stretches before a treadmill session were better able to stick with a hard effort than those who didn't, perhaps now is the time to commit to limbering up pre-run. On board? Jim Pate, senior physiologist at Marylebone Health (marylebonehealthgroup.com) reveals why and how you should do it.
GET HOT
Why warm up?
This story is from the March 2024 edition of Women's Fitness UK.
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This story is from the March 2024 edition of Women's Fitness UK.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
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