Stretching for Running

October 4th, 2010

Have you wondered about stretching and the benefits for running?  Most of the newest research says not to stretch statically before running, but dynamically.  What does that mean?  It means taking your muscles and joints  through functional active movements like calisthenic type movements.  Do the Yoga type stretching some other time, but not before you run.

When should you stretch? When clients ask about stretching before running, I advise a sufficient dynamic warm-up and afterwards, more static stretching where the stretch is held longer at end range.  I like to use Active Isolated stretching, which is static and uses neurological principles to enhance lengthening of the muscle to maintain and improve mobility.  Static stretching still works. It’s just best to do this other times, not before running.  Click here to view a stretch manual for runners.  I suggest static or Active Isolated stretching after running a couple of times during the week

What do the studies show? There is benefit for increasing mobility with static stretching and is most useful in regaining mobility after injuries and to improve length of muscles.  Its clear that doing static stretching will inhibit firing of the motor units so best not to do before running or racing. Click here for the NY Times recent article looking at injury rates with runners and stretching.

Why should you statically stretch? We want to maintain motion and have adequate mobility to run efficiently with a good stride.  It is “Use it or Lose it”, and most of us lose (or have lost) some mobility as we have aged.  We want to look and feel agile and mobile when we run!  Stretching feels good too!

There are two types of stretching-Dynamic and Static.
Dynamic stretches are the modern and effective method of warming up for running.  Why do dynamic stretches?  Prior to exercise, dynamic stretches perform all the functions of “warming” up that static stretches don’t.  They increase your heart rate and temperature and put your body through the range of movement it is going to perform during your session.  A traditional static stretch for say 10-15 minutes, will leave you cold and your muscles won’t “fire” as they should as they have been held in a stretched condition.

Below is a sample of the dynamic exercises that you can do, which we believe would constitute a good and effective warm-up for any running event.  Many athletes jog before doing this.  That is fine, and we’d suggest about 5 minutes, although if dynamic stretches are done well, a warm up jog isn’t essential.

For each exercise, move to a position that you can feel the muscles stretching in, before moving to the other leg, arm, etc.  For each of the exercises where you are to move, we suggest a distance of about 20m is appropriate.

The following pictures are dynamic stretching exercises specifically for running.  The goal of these exercises is to prepare the runner to warm up the muscles and joints that they will be utilizing in the running motion.  Some of the motions also involve lengthening muscles and joints under load.  We recommend that the runner ease into these gradually, that these do not cause any pain, and are done slowly with a controlled motion building up gradually where they can become quicker.  The recommendation is a 5 to 10 minute warm-up utilizing proprioceptive drills in different planes of motions to effectively lengthen muscles which enhances the ability of the proprioceptors (muscles and joint receptors) to fire.  This effectively done before running is a chosen method based on research that can be easily incorporated into a running routine.  The aim of these exercises is to warm you up and not overly exert you.

The first exercise you may recall doing in gym class, which is called a jumping jack.  This is fun to do and warms up the arms and legs.

The next motion is a gentle squat with arm reaches driving the hips backward in space while the arms are reaching forward.  This effectively fires the gluteal muscles and also stretches the back and the arms.

The next motion is reaching up overhead with the arms in a “Y” position keeping the shoulder blades together activating the scapular stabilizers.  This is used to lengthen the pectorals.  Drive the arms back like “chicken wings” widening the chest.  For those of us who sit most of the day during our working hours, certain muscles do become shortened, like the anterior pectorals or chest muscles.  By doing this exercise, you are lengthening these muscles that may have been neglected during your working hours.

Unilateral Arm Reach- Drive the arms forward reaching toward the sky.

Calf Step Back- There are two exercises here which stretch and lengthen different parts of the calf muscle.  One is done with a bent knee and the other is done with a straight knee.  The straight knee works the gastrocnemius; the bent knee works the deeper calf muscles.  You will want to keep upright with your torso with good posture, keeping your core braced or activated with your belly drawn in.

The High Knee exercise involves raising the knee up towards the chest in a very relaxed, controlled motion while alternately raising the knees like marching.  The high knee position can also be used as a running drill while running forward.  This is commonly known as bounding.  It should be done very gently and easing into this if this is not an exercise that you’re used to doing.  Keep in mind that this could be a little more explosive and loads the calf a little bit more,  so be mindful.

Kick Back- This exercise is basically driving the heel back towards the buttock in a very controlled, gentle motion, alternately stepping.

High Knee with Hamstrings- This exercise involves gently lifting the leg straight at the knee, stretching the hamstrings while keeping the back erect.

The Hamstring Reach is a more strenuous exercise and should be done towards the end of the warm-up once the other stretches on the other muscles have been done.  Do a deep lunge, pulling your heel up as you bring the leg forward.  This replicates a running motion.  Pull your heel up to stretch your hamstring.  Pull your toes up to stretch the calf and the foot.

Forward Lunge- Do a lunge while reaching out to the side with the arms.  This wakes up the side muscles of the hips.

We recommend that you do approximately 30 seconds of each exercise, then moving onto the next exercise in a fluid motion.  Click here to watch a quick 2 minute video that will take you through a dynamic warm up for running.

Enjoy.

Posted by Tammara Moore, DPT at 1:24 pm: No comments

Leave a reply