The Before Run Stretches

Since we will ALWAYS do these stretches before our runs/walks I decided to give them their own referenced post. Enjoy the stick figures I personally drew for you! I had fun trying to figure out how to better demonstrate these.

Pre-Run Stretches - Protect the Knees  

·     Seated Lean (Each Knee)

      Sit on the edge something flat and sturdy that raises you about as high off the ground as a small stool or regular size couch. Your entire butt should be on this item but your legs should be off of it altogether. Bend one knee and put your foot flat on the ground. Place your other leg straight out in front of you resting your leg on your heel so your foot is pointing up and out. Place your hand behind you so you sit perfectly straight.

      Now, "hinge" only at the hips and lean forward, place your hands on your hips for support if need be. ONLY lean as far forward as is needed to feel the stretch in the back of your knee and hamstrings (the back of your thigh). This is not the time to try and touch your toes. You should feel the stretch pretty quickly upon first lean. Lean as far forward as needed for it to feel "good" and not "hurt." Hold for 20-30 seconds then switch legs.

·     Flat Knee Downs

      If you are double-jointed in your knees like I am these feel so fabulous! Also, you can pretty much bend your knee backwards like you have turkey legs naturally and you need to talk to me about watching that phenomenon while you run! However, for this stretch just enjoy your double jointed skill.

      For this stretch you want to sit up tall and straight on the ground with your legs flat out in front of you, heels on the ground toes up - you can put your hands behind you for support. Try and sit as tall as possible. In this position simply push your knees down toward the ground. Just push until you feel a light stretch, this should not hurt you, if it does you are pushing to hard. You should be pushing with your quads (upper thighs) and pulling with your calves to just move your knee "down" toward the ground more. Your knee most likely will NOT ever go flat to the ground, that is not the goal. The goal is simply to "press and release" in short burst.

      Do about 30 of these total and then stop. You can do both knees at once or one knee at a time if you need to.

·     Flat Leg Lifts (Seated or Laying Down)

      To start with you will want to do these lying down. As you build strength you will be able to do them sitting up. You can try them both ways to feel the difference in each position but I recommend those who are just starting do these lying down.

      For these stretches you will lay flat with your heels on ground and toes pointed up (or sit up tall and straight on the ground with your legs flat out in front of you, heels on the ground toes up - you can put your hands behind you for support). Start out with one leg and lift it to were the heel of the leg being lifted goes no higher then the toe of the leg remain flat. Lower the leg back to the ground but do NOT touch the ground, just hover your foot and lift again. Do about 12-15 reps per leg.
   

·     Side Legs Lifts (Jane Fondas!)

      I call this the Jane Fonda move because it is something we always saw them do on those aerobics videos on the TV in the 80's. Only they exaggerated the movement and raised the legs way to high.    

It was like midnight when I drew Jane Fonda!

       For this stretch lay flat on one side, prop yourself up on one arm, place legs on top of each other with heels together and toes facing forward. Raise the top leg only.  Raise this leg straight up using mainly your hip muscles. Only lift about a foots width apart from the leg below. Lower the leg back down to hover above but not touch the lower leg. Raise up again and repeat for about 12-15 reps. 

      Switch to lay on opposite side and complete reps for other leg as well.

·    Side Circles (Forward & Back)

      Lay on your side again as demonstrated above in the "Jane Fonda" move except this time place your legs straight out in front of you rather than in line with you. As if you had been sitting up tall and then just fell over.

The drawings just got real good here! 

Notice the emphasized baboon butt!

      Prop yourself up on your arms like you do in the "Jane Fonda" stretch above. Raise your top leg straight up from the leg below it as high as is comfortable. From this position bring the leg towards you and with a circular motion lower it and bring it back in line with the bottom leg. Repeat for about 8-12 reps. In essence you will be making small forward circles with your leg.

      Do not make the circles any bigger than is comfortable for you. If this means you just hold your leg above the one below it and make tiny circular motions barely moving it then let it work itself out that way.

      Once you complete the forward circle always bring the leg straight up from the leg below it and begin again. You are in essence making a giant letter D in front of you with the flat of your foot.  If I were sitting in front of you I would see the D being drawn with the flat of your foot.
   D
   
     You will feel this intensely in your hips and since no one ever focuses on hip work I expect these to be hard to begin with meaning your circles will be much smaller than you may imagine being able to do them as. If it hurts and causes pain then DO NOT DO IT. 

     

      Once you have done one set going forward then move to doing the circles away from you, or "backward".

     
      Again only make the circles as big (high and wide) as is comfortable for you and if it causes you pain DONT DO IT!

      Roll to your other side when done and complete the same sets (forward and backward circles) on the other leg.

·         Side Thigh Lifts

      Lay flat on your side, legs in front of you, the same as the Side Leg Lifts above except this time bend your knees.

      Raise your upper leg so your knee is one fist space apart from the lower leg. Raise the leg using your thigh and glute (butt) muscles. It should feel like you are pushing your leg up through a pool of water. Raise it about one foot and then lower it back to the starting position (which is one fist space apart from lower leg) do this about 12-15 times. When done ball up your hand into a fist and rub your glute muscle to relax it.

      

     Roll to the opposite side and repeat with opposite leg.

I want to emphasize the importance of these stretches. They help build the supporting muscles that keep your knee protected. As well they loosening and strengthening your hips and glutes which are key components to comfort for proper running form. I am a strong believer that doing these stretches before any form of cardio exercise can only help you in protecting your body and readying these joint and muscle areas to work for you.

I know my drawings are crap and my descriptions may be worse. So, please, let me know anything you may still have question with. My hope is to find someone to film and help me learn to edit and then I can just post this series of stretches (and all workouts we do) as one video example from now on. Anyone want to volunteer to work with me on that? I have a Flip video camera and AVS For You video software, just need to find time with someone, (or on my own) to figure out how to use them together! :)

~TigressSky~