Stretching Exercises for Runners

If you're a runner you'll need the benefits of doing your stretching exercise routine for you go running. If you're just starting out and want to become a good runner, whether for marathons or just to enjoy, you need to learn the stretching exercise is important before you start to run.

One of the most basic benefits of a runner doing their stretching exercise is that it will make you a faster runner if your body is limber and warmed up. When stretching, don't move too quickly, that defeats the purpose of what you are trying to do. This exercise is merely a warm-up, a way to add to your flexibility and make you ready to run. A runner needs to appreciate that the stretching exercise should be to help the muscles prepare for the strain that you are about to put them under.

One of the reasons a runner should exercise by stretching before going to run is that this increases the blood flow to the muscles. After you return from a run, you must do the same stretching exercise to allow the muscles to flex and to prevent potential soreness later.

A runner must include in their stretching exercise program five particular muscles that require stretching before the runner begins. These include the muscles in the thigh that coordinate your speed and are called the quadriceps. The job of the hamstring is to bend the knee and lift the lower leg. Your piriformis muscle takes care of the rotation of the hip so that the gastroc muscle can move you leg forward and the soelus can bring the foot up to push off with. All of these need you to complete your stretching exercise program to improve the flexibility before you, the runner, can do your very best. A smart runner will never skip their exercise program to save time.