Great link
A proper warm-up is specific to running. It’s dynamic, not static, and takes you through the three planes of motion: sagittal, frontal and transverse. It brings the nervous system online and gets the brain, muscles, connective tissue and joints talking clearly to one another. This lunge matrix addresses all the above.
Running is a complex physiological activity. Successful running requires both mobility and stability of the joints and limbs. This warm-up combines dynamic mobility movements with body-weight strength exercises to not only get your body ready to run but make you a stronger, more durable runner.
Same-Side Lateral Lunge: Lunge directly sideways while keeping both feet forward. Keep the knee stacked over the foot of the lunging leg. You should feel a groin stretch in the trail leg. Reach your hands high overhead for more groin stretch.
Opposite-Side Lateral Lunge: This is a crossover lunge. Lunge by stepping across and slightly in front of your other leg. You won’t be able to go very far, and that’s fine. You’ll probably feel a stretch along the outside of the non-lunging leg.
Same-Side Rotational Lunge: Lunge while rotating and aiming your foot the direction you’re moving. Keep your trail foot planted. Depending on your mobility, you may be rotating 90 degrees from your start position or further around behind you. Think of how you step out of a car or think of a soccer player stepping to change direction and pursue a ball or opponent speeding past him or her. You’ll probably feel a groin stretch.
Reverse Lunge With Rotation: Take a long lunge step behind you. You’ll arrive in a similar position as the forward lunge. Drive your elbows and torso to the non-lunging side as your foot hits the ground. This should result in your trunk rotating toward the front leg. You’ll probably feel a stretch in the glute of the front leg. Keep your eyes and head dead ahead. This will help keep you stable and provide a some running-specific neck mobility.
Expand the Repertoire: These are just a few lunge-and-reach combinations. You are free to experiment with the direction in which you lunge and where you reach your hands to expand the lunge matrix. By doing so you’ll ask your joints and tissues to react differently. You can also play with the speed of the lunge. You may lunge while holding weights or wear a weight vest if you want to turn this lunge matrix into a gym workout. Finally, always be in control of the exercise. Don’t let the exercise control you.
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Kyle Norman, MS, is a Denver, Colorado-based personal trainer, strength coach and running coach with 20 years of experience. He specializes in helping people move well, get strong and get out of pain. You can follow his blog at www.denverfitnessjournal.com.
Best Ways to Start Running (Again)
Start Slow
In my work as a UESCA-Certified Running Coach, the most common mistake I see new runners make, or runners returning to training after months or years off, is trying to do too much too soon.
Jumping into a daily running routine can lead to injury if you increase your volume and intensity too quickly because running puts a lot of stress on your bones, joints, muscles, and tendons, so your tissues need time to adapt.
In fact, if you’ve been completely inactive for at least a couple of months, it’s generally a good idea to start with a week or two (at least) of just brisk walking or easy jogging every other day before you engage in a daily running program.
New perk! Get after it with local recommendations just for you. Discover nearby events, routes out your door, and hidden gems when you Starting a running routine can be challenging, particularly if you’ve been inactive for a long time, or had to take time away from the sport.
Perhaps you’ve never laced up a pair of shoes with the intention of running, or perhaps you used to run but fell out of your routine due to several circumstances—like when work, family, school or lingering injuries keep you from being consistent with your running.
Starting to run or getting back to running are equally challenging for the same reasons, which is primarily that your body isn’t conditioned to run if you haven’t been running. Your muscles and joints need to get ready for the impacts of running and probably don’t have the range of motion necessary to ensure an efficient running gait. As soon as you start back, you’re likely to feel fatigue and soreness, moments of discouragement, an increased appetite, sporadic sleep, jumpy legs and also plenty of reasons to be excited about your onboarding of a new level of fitness.
In any scenario, embarking on a running journey can feel daunting and overwhelming. Don’t stress about it. The good news is that you can get moving and start making progress with patience and commitment, and, hopefully, some consistency, and within about a month you’ll be able to develop a regular routine and some semblance of aerobic fitness.
Below, we share five beginner tips to help you start running safely and successfully.
Best Ways to Start Running (Again)
Start Slow
In my work as a UESCA-Certified Running Coach, the most common mistake I see new runners make, or runners returning to training after months or years off, is trying to do too much too soon.
Jumping into a daily running routine can lead to injury if you increase your volume and intensity too quickly because running puts a lot of stress on your bones, joints, muscles, and tendons, so your tissues need time to adapt.
In fact, if you’ve been completely inactive for at least a couple of months, it’s generally a good idea to start with a week or two (at least) of just brisk walking or easy jogging every other day before you engage in a daily running program.
At a very basic level, you can start with 15-30 minutes of walking a day, or walking a mile a day, depending on your current fitness level and life stage. Increase your pace so that you are doing brisk walking that elevates your heart rate as soon as possible. Once you can walk briskly for 30 minutes a day, you should be able to start incorporating running.
For beginners and new runners with some fitness level—perhaps you’ve been doing other forms of cardio or have a fairly active lifestyle—you can start incorporating running right away rather than building up with just brisk walking. Once you reach a level that you can run easy for four days in any given week, you can start adding an extra mile or 10 more minutes of running onto some of your runs.
However, using a run-walk approach where you intersperse walking breaks with jogging or running is a good way to build up your aerobic endurance and musculoskeletal tolerance to running rather than trying to head out the door and run 10 or 20 minutes without stopping from day one.
Adding walking breaks gives you a chance to catch your breath and slow your heart rate, and because walking is a lower-impact activity, the lower impact gives your bones and soft tissues an opportunity to adapt to the added training load.
Take Rest Days
Many new runners get excited about their new running routine and want to get outside or hop on the treadmill daily. However, it is extremely important to take rest days to give your muscles, bones, joints, and connective tissues time to recover and adapt to the new impact stresses from running, even if you feel like you are “getting in shape” and can run several days in a row.
When you start running, your cardiovascular fitness will improve faster than the adaptations your musculoskeletal system needs to make to handle the impact stresses of running.
Therefore, you might start to feel like running is getting easier in terms of how hard you are breathing and how fast your heart is beating, but on a cellular level, your bones, connective tissues, and muscles are experiencing more damage and not adapting as readily as your heart, lungs, and blood vessels.
While many running coaches suggest new runners take every other day off over the first week of their new running routine and then gradually increase the frequency of the running workouts. Again, this gives your body time to adapt to your new fitness routine without increasing the risk of injury.
Here is a sample progression for running frequency:
- Week 1: Run/jog with walking breaks every other day.
- Week 2: You can try to increase the duration of the running intervals and decrease the frequency and duration of the walking breaks in between while continuing only to run every other day.
- Week 3: You can start running two days in a row with a rest day every third day.
Slowly build up until you are running 4-5 days per week depending on your fitness level and training goals. Even once you have been training consistently for several months, you should still take at least one rest day per week in order to support recovery and help reduce the risk of overuse injuries.
RELATED: Is Your Training Focused Enough on Recovery?
Cross-Training Helps
The good news for eager beginners is that you don’t have to be inactive on your “off days.” As you build up your aerobic endurance, incorporating low-impact forms of cross-training is an effective way to build your cardiovascular fitness and musculoskeletal strength while reducing the relative impact of stresses on your body.
Cross-training refers to any form of exercise other than running. The best forms of cross-training are those that complement running by using different muscles and movement patterns and decreasing the relative amount of force or impact stress on your legs. Examples include cycling, riding an exercise bike, aqua jogging, using the elliptical machine, hiking, rowing, swimming, and cross-country skiing.
You can do a cross-training workout on alternate days when you are not running. Gradually increase the duration and intensity of these workouts as your cardiovascular fitness level improves.
Even when you are incorporating cross-training as a day off from running, you should still have one true rest day per week with no scheduled workout.
Incorporate Strength Training
Almost all running coaches strongly encourage their runners to do strength training at least two times per week.
Strength training can help reduce the risk of running injuries by helping to correct muscle imbalances and strengthening your muscles, bones, and connective tissues so that they can better handle the forces and impact stresses of running.
Beginners can start with bodyweight exercises. Examples include:
Lower Body Exercises
- Squats
- Lunges
- Glute bridges
- Calf raises
- Side leg lifts
- Donkey kicks
Core Exercises
- Planks
- Side planks
- Reverse crunches
- Bird dogs
- Supermans
Upper Body Exercises
- Push-ups (on your knees or against a wall is a great starting place)
- Chair dips
As you build up your strength, you can start incorporating weight training and plyometric exercises. Plyometric exercises are high-impact jumping or bounding movements such as box jumps and burpees. This type of strength training can further increase power and force production for improved running economy.
Listen To Your Body
One of the best tips for beginner runners is to be patient with your progression and let your body guide you. Even if you are following a training plan, there may be days when you have to deviate from the scheduled workout because you have muscle soreness or something is just not clicking in terms of how your body is feeling when you are trying to run.
Don’t worry about how fast you are running at first. While building up your endurance, don’t feel pressured to run faster than your current fitness level supports.
Know that not every run will be faster or longer than the previous run. Fitness adaptations are not linear and our bodies respond to external stressors such as how well you slept, how well you fueled your body, etc. Just because you were able to run 20 minutes one day, does not mean that you have to run 22 minutes or run 20 minutes at a faster pace at your next workout.
It is much more important to modify your training schedule than push through discomfort. You may risk injury and ultimately, there is no “race“ to the finish line of becoming a runner.
You are going to enjoy running as a lifelong runner.
The best way to do that is to honor the progress and needs of your body, recognizing that your own running journey is unique and just because others might be progressing at a faster rate does not mean that you are “not as good” or a “bad runner.” If you run, you are a runner.
You are a runner the moment you lace up your running shoes and head out the door. Your own relationship with the sport of running is unique and the best way to support a healthy, injury-free, positive running experience is to take it one day at a time and listen to your body. As with anything in life, you’re bound to have good days and not-so-good days. Just remember, fitness is based on your cumulative actions and your consistency, so go easy on yourself and keep showing up.
