Stretching can improve your stride (which may actually increase your pace) and help you avoid injuries. Do these three easy moves after your run.
Downward-Facing Dog
Why do it: To help prevent tightness in the backs of your legs, improve stride length, and nix calf cramping.
How-to: From push-up position, press hips up and heels down so you’re in an inverted V. Focus on reaching hips and heels away from one another. Hold for 20–30 seconds; repeat twice.
Kneeling Lunge
Why do it: To help lengthen hip flexors and open the fronts of your hips, which can improve your running posture and form and reduce the risk of injury.
How-to: Kneel with left knee on ground, right foot forward, and right knee bent at 90 degrees over right ankle. Keep spine long as you tilt your pelvis forward, flattening your lower back and stretching front of your left hip. Hold 20–30 seconds; repeat on other side.
Cross-Legged Seat Stretch
Why do it: To help stave off butt, sciatic, and lower-back pain that can be caused by running too much too soon (overtraining) or sitting for long periods of time.
How-to: Lie on back and cross right knee over left, bending both. Pull knees toward chest to feel the stretch deep in your butt muscle. Hold 20–30 seconds; repeat on other side.
Jenny Hadfield is our Girls Gotta Move Running Club coach and a certified personal trainer.
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Comments (16)
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Stretching does do wonders! In addition, I have been wearing compression stockings, or calf sleeves, when I run – some studies have shown that they increase blood circulation in the calf, helping runners increase speed and endurance.
Amelia
http://www.aboutcompressionstockings.com
This is wrong. Stretching after you warm up prevents you from pulling a muscle, but in fact just simply stretching can actually damage your muscles. I ran for 6 years on a cross country and track team and flexible certainly does not equal faster. Try running more instead
stretching makes your muscle supple, if, and only if you stretch after running, because stretching before running would damage your muscles and makes you have poor reflexes. i have stretched after running and general effort for years and i am happy with my form. if you don’t stretch you lose your flexibility and mobility.
now, i am not a running expert, but i have done some performance sport for about 6,7 years that required lots of speed and reflexes and mobility.
Can I get clarification from running experts about stretching? I have read that you don’t suppose to stretch before running. Other articles said you do stretch before runnin. What’s the right answer to this question?
Dear Alma Fox,
This is a difficult question to answer as every person is a bit different. What may work for some may not work well for others. One thing for sure is that you “should never” stretch a cold muscle. Think of your muscle as a rubber band. If you store it in the freezer and take it out to stretch it, it will likely snap. Your muscles aren’t that cold, but our lives are relatively sedentary. After sitting all day, if you stretch a hamstring too forcefully, you can tear it.
The best advice in general is to do a light warm up before stretching. Depending on your resources, maybe you can ride a stationary bike for 5-10 minutes, then stretch. Or try a brisk walk for 5-10 minutes before stretching. If you can muster up a light sweat first, you should be in a better position to stretch your muscles.
Yet for most people, regular stretching can help to prevent injuries and extend your active life.
Let me know if you have any specific questions.
Good luck on your running and have fun!
I have been a runner and cyclist for many years. The best way to incorporate stretching into your exercise routine is to do the exercise that you are targeting at an easy intensity for a few minutes to warm up your muscles. Then do your stretches. You should stretch again after your workout to prevent tightening and soreness of muscles.
As doctor for the number one cross country in America and runners of many other levels of performance for 30 years the facts are… stretching before warming up is detrimental and injurious to the muscle. Low intensity activity until the muscle is warm, then engage full range of motion of each joint involved in the activity until it is freee and clear of hesitation or stiffness prepares the system for action. Long sustained “stretch” is not recommended for most muscles. If you consistently have a tight muscle, that muscle is the victim of having an antagonist muscle defective and weak…shift your attention to the antagonist muscle.
I’m a personal trainer and I have been taught that you never stretch cold muscles as it may cause injury, therefore, never stretch before running, start out with a light jog to warm up and then ease into your run. Stretch afterwards as when you exercise, the muscle shortens, so you stretch to lengthen the muscle.
A lot of people have debated this question all too often. I am a personal trainer. I have also ran more races of every distance than I can even recall. Even further, I have done extensive research on this very matter. Plain and simple: You warmup BEFORE running, you stretch AFTER running. Please help me end the false information spreading around that stretching before running is better, these people don’t know what they’re talking about and are a disease to the running community.
Not only do I say this from research and countless hours studying, but I say this from personal experience. I too, used to be one of the stretch-before-runners. For years I did it, I pulled hamstrings, quads, itb’s you name it. Frequently I would tweak and hurt various muscles in my legs and could never figure out why. Once, I did my research and stopped stretching prior to running, my legs have recovered 100%. Not only that, but my pace is faster than it has ever been. No injuries anymore? 7:15min mile pace to 6:00min mile pace? You do the math :-)
Lee,
I appreciate that you are a personal trainer but if you have truly done “extensive research” on this issue then you should have learned it’s not “plain and simple.” If you read all the posts to this article you will see many variations of opinion. Second, everyone is different. There are no hard and fast rules in fitness.
With that said, you can see common themes here. 1) never stretch when cold, 2) warm up before engaging in more strenuous activity, 3) after warming up, some people benefit from stretching or working through the full range of motion (see Dr. D), 4) have a post workout cool down regimen and that can include stretching or range of motion exercises.
I work primarily with professional athletes. The advantage here is that most know their bodies well; they have more time and resources than recreational athletes; they are committed to their health — as it represents their paycheck.
When someone says they know it all, or know it for sure, it usually is a warning that we should be cautious about their advice. Fitness is never plain and simple. Common sense goes a long way, but one must respect their own body first and foremost.
Regarding Dr. D’s point about not performing long, sustained stretches, please see YinYoga by Paul Grilley. His work may alter your exercise paradigm.
Information and our knowledge of health and fitness has evolved and moved forward since we first discovered the wheel my friend :-) Okay that was uncalled for I know… And I don’t know you personally so don’t be offended. I appreciate your thoughts and opinions, and have no doubt you are quite knowledgeable on many things. However, you’re wrong on this one :-)
Lee
Hey Lee ~
No offense taken. I respect your opinion. There are many ways to train. As a former pro athlete who now trains other pros (track, volleyball, basketball), I know that getting up a good lather and then doing some stretching seems to help performance — better times, increased explosive power and quickness, and seemingly fewer injuries. Others may use different methods but this routine has been working nicely for those of us in the pre-neanderthal days. : )
Thanks for having a good sense of humor Scott. We may disagree on this but at least you are more civil about it than I was :-) My hat goes off to you for that.
Lee
HaHa!
No worries Lee. I know you’re just trying to keep people safe and injury free. That’s admirable. Keep up the good work! Mahalo nui loa …
Any good stretches for those who have just had a back fusion – L4-S1?