Properly warm up for a 5k

Its Spring and that means lots of 5k’s. How should we warm up for a 5k? Well first, let’s talk about why we warm up at all.

The point of a warm up is to get your heart rate up and blood flowing to your muscles before straining them to prevent injury. If we tried to run a 5k or do a strength training workout from “cold” – chances are you aren’t going to perform your best, and your chance of injury increases.
So – if we are planning to run, how do we warm up?
A proper 5k warm up includes jogging or low impact cardio to get the heart rate up, followed by stretching to loosen the muscles.

Here is an example of a runner’s warm up:

• Start off with a steady jog either on the ground or treadmill. Start at a slower pace for 5-10 minutes
• Front lunges to loosen the hips and stretch the hamstrings, 20-30 seconds each side
• Star touches, or toe touches (star is just cross body instead of straight down)
• Knee to Chest, 20-30 seconds each side, either standing or laying down

Additional warm ups to try:
Running drills, jumping jacks, inchworms, calf raises