Text from one of my friends this morning:
Friend: Hey so I went on a run today but my calf muscle was stiff the whole time… wtf?
Me: What pre-run stretching did you do?
Friend: None. That’s so boring I can’t do it.
Listen up people- you HAVE TO STRETCH/WARM-UP!
I’m not trying to be bad cop, but it’s SO SO important that you wake up your muscles before work-out. I don’t care what type of exercise you’re doing- it’s SUPER important to stretch.
Let me tell you a story to better explain my point. It was my freshman year of college, one day before my first exam. Obviously I had no idea what I was doing so I studied for maybe 30 minutes and then hung out with my friends all night. The next day the professor passed out the exams and I realized that I knew the answers to exactly zero questions. Panic ensued. I felt like an idiot. I failed.
In this situation, my freshman self is your body during a work-out. If you don’t prepare, your body will not perform the way you want it to. I know it’s not glamorous, but you need to stretch and warm-up your muscles before and after you exercise. If you’re not sure what kind of stretching you should be doing, Runner’s World has a great how-to video. (You’re welcome RW).
The Rundown 