A low lunge stretch with overhead reach is the world's greatest stretch.Sweat and Tonic/Supplied
As a 23-year-old newbie marathon runner, I often rolled out of bed, slipped on my sneakers, and headed out the door for a 15K-training run without doing a warm-up. Two decades later, if I don’t spend at least ten minutes mobilizing my joints before a casual 5K, I’ll be dealing with aches and pains in my hips and lower back (and somehow also my shoulders) for a week.
As I learned, if you want to stick with running as you age, you have to do a bit more than just putting one foot in front of the other.
“Mobility is crucial to ensuring that we don’t hurt ourselves when we jump into a practice like running,” says Julian Ho, a kinesiologist and certified ultramarathon coach. “I tell my clients that the warm-up is the workout.”
Mobility versus flexibility
Flexibility is passive, meaning you don’t have to use your muscles and other tissue to move through a range of motion, says Lindsay Scott, a registered physiotherapist and the clinic director at The Runner’s Academy (think of touching your toes or holding a downward dog position in yoga). Mobility is active, allowing the joints to move freely through a full range of motion, such as squatting or doing arm circles. This is particularly important as we age and our joints tend to stiffen.
Our experts say making time for a few exercises before you log your miles is crucial.Sweat and Tonic/Supplied
“Mobility requires your brain, muscles, and other tissue to communicate so you can figure out where your body is in space and then create a coordinated plan to move well,” says Scott.
Both are important to overall health and longevity but mobility work helps runners maintain control through their range of motion. It can also improve running performance. For example, focusing on mobilizing the hip, knee, and ankle can help improve your capacity to apply force as you drive off the ground with each step.
Lack of mobility, however, can lead to muscle imbalances. “Human bodies are incredible at adapting,” says Scott. “If we lack mobility in one area, we’ll find it elsewhere.” Over time, the tissue taking on more of that load will reach its limit and that can lead to injury.
Should you mobilize before or after your workout?
Our experts say making time for a few exercises before you log your miles is most crucial.
“It’s like breaking open the cobwebs and adding WD-40 to the joints,” says Ho, who suggests moving through ranges of motion that are specific to the mechanics of running.
Every time your foot hits the ground when running, the ground also pushes back against your body. Depending on your gait, individual body, and running mechanics, that force can be even greater, “so it makes sense that before you load [your body], you’re ensuring you’re able to manage those loads efficiently,” says Scott. “A mobility practice prerun can prepare your body for the demands of the run.”
While post-workout mobilization isn’t as critical, making time for static stretching can help ease soreness as well as help your body begin the recovery process.
Mobility work helps runners maintain control through their range of motion.Sulphur Springs Trail Race/Supplied
How to get started
Before your next run, try this six-minute beginner-friendly mobility sequence designed by Ho.
Leg Swings (front to back)
Place one hand around the edge of a door frame (or a tree, fence, or lamppost if you’re outside), with your body perpendicular to the frame and your elbow bent slightly. Keeping your upper body straight, lift the leg furthest from the door frame and kick it as far as your range of motion will allow, then allow it to swing back behind you. Continue these swings for 30 seconds, progressively increasing the range of motion every 10 seconds. Repeat on the other side.
Pendulum Leg Swings (side to side)
Turn your body to face the door frame and lightly grip it with both hands. Bring your left leg just slightly in front of your body and begin to swing it from left to right, across your body, as far as your range of motion will comfortably allow. Continue these swings for 30 seconds, progressively increasing the range of motion every 10 seconds. Repeat on the other side.
World’s Greatest Stretch (aka Low Lunge with Overhead Reach)
Begin in a plank. Step your right foot forward, outside of your right hand, keeping your knee bent. Squeeze your glutes and engage your core. Lift your right hand off the floor and reach it towards the sky, rotating your body towards the bent leg. As you return the right arm, bend at the elbow and hover your forearm just above the ground next to your right foot. Repeat 10 times on the right side and then 10 times on the left.
A-Skips
Find a stretch of sidewalk or grass and skip forward, driving the knee of the lead leg high towards the chin. Keep alternating legs for about 20 yards, then turn back and repeat in the opposite direction. Try to drive the lead knee high and the trailing leg down with equal force.
Shoulder Rolls
Your shoulders and arms are important to proper running mechanics, too. Keeping your torso upright, slowly pull the shoulders back, then up towards the ears, then forward, then back to a relaxed position. Do this for 30 seconds, then reverse the direction for another 30 seconds.
Alyssa Ages is a journalist and the author of Secrets of Giants: A Journey to Uncover the True Meaning of Strength. She is also a strongman competitor and endurance athlete, as well as a former personal trainer and group fitness instructor.