5 Warm Up Exercises For Running

The best five warm up exercises for running can protect your body for strain, and torn tissues. A few tips are that you should never stretch before warming up and stretching and warming up are two different activities. Quite a few novices don’t know the difference. Warm up exercises are light aerobic exercises that don’t extend the limbs much while increasing the body’s core temperature. Warm up exercises end with stretches, and then your run should begin.

This is a review of five wonderful warm up exercises.

1. Jumping Jacks without lifting the arms over the head. This exercise is fantastic. It gets your blood going but doesn’t extend the limbs very far. It is the perfect first exercise of the group because risk to the body is minimal. Do about 30 to 50 of these jumping jacks while bringing the arms to shoulder level during the jumping jack.
2. Jogging In Place. This exercise is perfect to getting your metabolism to spike. Doing it after the jumping jacks pushes your heartbeat even higher. Soon you should begin to perspire. Do this exercise for one full minute. Your body is now ready to extend.
3. Arm Circles. Do 25 arm circles forward and 25 arm circles backwards. Make sure they are small to medium-sized circles. Circles too large will take too long for the purposes of warming up.
4. Jumping Jacks with the arms over the head. This time lift your arms into the air and perform about fifteen of these. You should feel your body begin to flush with heat. Your heartbeat should be in the 120 to 140 range.
5. Hamstring Pull. Raise your right calf into the air behind you and pull it with your right hand. Hold this posture for ten seconds. Repeat on the left side. This protects the hamstring, one of the most stressed of all human muscles.

After completing this sequence, you are ready to begin. Your heart is well above resting, and your hamstrings are protected. The hamstrings are the most commonly pulled muscle while running. You are ready to enjoy your run!