As a runner, you realize the importance of staying in shape. Part of staying in shape should also include stretching. Although you may not realize just what stretching does for you, you should invest a few minutes in learning as well as doing stretches. No matter if you are a new runner or someone that has been running for years, adding stretches into your workout can and will allow you to do more, accomplish better goals and it will allow you to successfully accomplish tasks in a more complete manner. It also will protect you from injury in some cases.
Running: It’s A Physical Test
As you stand at the line, ready to start your run, your body tenses and you can feel the adrenaline pumping in your body. If you have successfully warmed up, your body is ready to go. When it comes time to step off and into that race, it is ready to give you its all right from the start. But, if you haven’t done the right amount of warm up stretches, your body will begin slowly, struggling with the first steps as it begins to loosen. Slowly, your muscles begin to stretch and your range of motion is more. You can feel your legs begin to loosen.
What’s wrong with waiting for this to happen instead of stretching in the first place? The bottom line is what you want and need from your body. If you just consider your legs, for example, you need that first step over the line to be the best step it can be. You need to make sure that everything that happens during this race is something that can help you to power through your workout and race from the start to the finish. By delaying your body’s ability to give it your all right from the start, you are farther behind then you could have been.
Many runners make the mistake of not getting in any stretching before they get started on the track. This can be quite problematic and can often cause you to lose your balance as well as your place at the finish line. If you allow yourself the type of stretches that will prepare your body for that run, the end result is that you will actually succeed, better than before.