Warm Up and Cool Down

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Warm up

It is not a good idea to jump straight out of bed and go running. You need to warm up your muscles and get your metabolic rate up first. If you run when your muscles are stiff or cold after a long period of inactivity, you are much more likely to pull a muscle or injure a joint.

Simply moving about the house briskly for ten minutes will ease your body into action but, if you have time, it is a good idea to do some warm-up exercises. These will also limber the back of your legs, tighten your tummy muscles and strengthen your ankles-covering the muscle areas that running leaves out. Here are six stretching and firming exercises that many regular runners rely on:

  1. For your calf muscles and Achilles tendons: stand a little under a metre from a tree or wall. With your feet flat on the ground, lean into it until the backs of your legs hurt a little. Hold the position for ten seconds and then relax. Repeat six times.

  2. For tight hamstrings at the back of your legs: keeping your legs straight, put one heel up on a table at waist level (lower, if you cannot reach that high). Now lower your head down to your knee until you feel the strain. Hold the position for ten seconds, holding on to your leg or foot to steady yourself if you need to. Repeat (with each leg) six times.

  3. For lower back and hamstrings: lie on your back, arms at your sides. Keeping your legs straight, bring them up over your head. Now lower them as far as possible above your head-touching the floor if you can. Hold for ten seconds and relax. Repeat six times.

  4. For your shin muscles: sit on the edge of a table and hold a weight of about two kilograms on the front part of your foot just behind the toes (a small bucket or old paint tin filled with stones is ideal). Keep them there for a few seconds and then lower. Repeat a few times with each foot.

  5. For your quadriceps: sit on the table and hang the weight over the toes of one foot so the bucket or tin is resting on the floor and you are not stretching the knee ligaments. Now straighten your knee, raising the weight. Hold for a few seconds and then lower. Repeat six times with each leg.

  6. For tummy muscles: do twenty sit-ups with your knees bent and your feet tucked under a heavy piece of furniture if this helps you keep your balance. Clasp your hands behind your head and keep your chin in, curling your body up from the floor.

If you don't have time to go through this routine before you run, start running very slowly and keep to a slow, steady jog for the first five minutes or so until your muscles start to warm up. This is very important if you want to protect yourself from injury.

Never run after a meal, a hot bath, or when you are feeling really cold.

Cool down

It is just as important to cool off properly after a run, and your muscles should cool off gradually. A good way of achieving this is by walking for five or ten minutes after every run. This keeps extra blood flowing through the muscles and helps your body to eliminate the waste products of exercise such as lactic acid, which can otherwise make you stiff or sore.

If you like, do some stretching exercises, such as bending over from the hips. You should find that any muscular aches and pains vanish quickly as your body responds to your new regime and works itself into condition.