Thursday, January 6, 2011

Top Three Warm-Up Activities Before Running

If you are just a beginner in running, then you should probably know about these warm-up exercises for runners. When we say runners, we do not exclusively mean those people who are tied up to running in a professional or academic sense. This also includes the people who consider running as their regular exercise. To have a fantastic run, you must first stretch your muscles and joints. You can surely loosen up with these top 3 warm-up exercises before you run.

Forward Skips. Doing forward skips will allow you to stretch your lower back. It also works out your legs before you do the actual laps around the track. To do forward skips, you would have to skip a leg at a time, accompanied by doing an arm swing opposite to the leg that you are going to use to perform a skip step. You don't need to skip too high as long as you maintain a good posture every time you extend your lower back. You also won't have to make fast or intense skips. You just have to do it in moderation so you can get your circulation to improve.

Cross Overs. This is just like skipping sideways. You also would have to hold your arms outstretched while doing crossovers. After you have done at least 20 yards of it facing left, you can do another 20 yards facing right. Don't forget to do cross overs with precaution as you may trip while doing this exercise. This is a good exercise to loosen your hips and abdominal muscles as well as the thighs. You can also do cross overs with your knees slightly bent if you want a little variation.

High Knee Hugs. This exercise is done slower than the first two warm-up exercises previously mentioned. This is also very simple to execute. You just have to walk briskly and after a full step you need to lift a leg up, grab your knee, and bring it close to the chest. Gently bring that leg down and continue to step forward. After another full step, do the same procedure to the other leg. This will stretch your hamstrings so you would be ready for the run.

Most people who consider running as their regular exercise stop because their jobs are getting in the way. If you are facing this kind of problem, you may be pleased to know that the solution to your problem is through buying home fitness equipment such as a treadmill. That way, even if you can't make it to the tracks after work, you can still do a few laps on your treadmill. Home fitness equipment are best for busy professionals like you.

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