Warm Up Before Running: 10 Minute Routine

About this plan

Ten minutes before a run, in three versions so it does not become something you stop paying attention to. Everything is timed in twenty-second blocks or short rep counts, and none of it is a static stretch held before you move.

Version one works from the ground up: marching, ankle circles, heel-to-toe walking, a calf stretch against a wall, leg swings side to side and front to back, the world's greatest stretch and reverse lunges with an overhead reach. Version two is more active — calf raise circles, bridge marches, high-knee skips, butt kicks, high-knee running, lunge with twist, side lunges and toe walks. Version three concentrates on the hips: knee-to-chest, hip circles, hip flexor stretch, 90/90 twists, deep lunge to hamstring stretch, then leg swings and walking lunges.

The ankle work at the start of version one is not filler. Running is a repeated single-leg landing, and the ankle is the first joint to absorb each one. Limited ankle dorsiflexion changes how the knee and hip take the load, and it is one of the easier things to improve.

Leg swings appear in all three versions because they do the most in the least time — hip flexors, hamstrings, adductors and glutes, moved through range under control, in twenty seconds a side.

What is deliberately absent is a long static hold. Stretching a cold muscle and holding it for a minute before a run reduces power output for a while afterwards and does not lower injury risk. Everything here keeps moving; save the long holds for after.

Use whichever version matches the run. Version two suits a faster session, version three suits a day when your hips feel locked, and version one works when you have not run in a while.