Should you warm up for your run?

Written by Matthew Sellen

A lot of people ask about if they should warm up before a run and what it should look like. There are a lot of differing opinions from just jump right into it to an elaborate routine of mobility and activation before even thinking about running. So where do we stand? Should you warm up before you run?

Short answer: YES*

Long answer: It depends!

Not very satisfying, I know! But, like everything, there are circumstances to consider.

Think about driving your car. Most of the year you just hop in, start the engine, and go. But in the winter there may be some things that give you pause. What’s the temperature outside? Did you park in a garage or on the street? Is there snow covering the car? Have you driven it super recently, or has it been a few hours? How’s the fuel level? Will you be driving through residential neighborhoods, or are you hopping directly onto the highway? Answers to these questions are the deciding factor for getting in and going or idling for a little while.

Deciding to warm up for your run is a similar process, but the questions are slightly different.

So what are the things to consider to determine if you need to warm up before your run? And if you decide to warm up, what should it look like? Let’s go through the questions.

What has my activity level looked like over the past 2 hours? Have you been moving around or sitting at a desk? If you’ve been moving around at a low to moderate intensity, you’re likely, at least somewhat, warmed up. Your blood has been flowing slightly faster, your heart rate is slightly elevated, your muscles have been doing a little bit of work… you’ve got that part out of the way just by nature of how you’ve been moving for the last couple of hours. If you’ve been pretty sedentary and want to get out for a run, like over your lunch period at your desk job, you probably need to slowly get your heart rate increased before hoofing it down the sidewalk. So how do I address that? This one is pretty straight forward, in fact fancy isn’t necessarily better. Get outside or on the treadmill depending on where you want to run, and start out at a moderate to brisk walk for 3-5 minutes. You should feel your body temperature warming up and your breathing get a little deeper.

Do I have any specific issues that affect my running? If you have something that you’re currently working through, either with your physical therapist or independently, and it’s affecting your runs, then this should be addressed in some way before getting out for your run. Depending on your issue, it could have come up because of some aspect of your running or it could have been from something else and is now bleeding into your running. Either way, if it is changing your running form or is becoming more intense as you run, then not addressing it isn’t going to make it go away in most cases. So how do I address that? This one is more nuanced as it’s highly dependent on what you’re dealing with. Tight hips may just need some mobility work. Hip drop in midstance may need some glute activation. This is where you and your PT get more specific on your warm up plan. Even this aspect should only be a few minutes at most.

How intense is my run going to be? Are you planning on doing a super easy zone 2 run, a long race pace run, or an interval workout? All of those put different demands on your body, stress different systems, and require different levels of preparation. The more intense the workout will be, the more preparation will be needed to get the most out of your workout and mitigate injury risk. So how do I address that? Like I said, that depends on what you’re warming up for. An easy short run probably doesn’t need all that much beyond getting your heart rate up for a few minutes, but for interval work you could practice what you’re going to do for the workout with some striders. This lets your body get used to an increased turn over and increased power output before doing the real deal. Think of it like warm up sets for squatting. You’re taking a few sets to build up the weight before you get to your working sets. For workout runs like intervals or any other speed work I think that warming up is non-negotiable.

Let’s put all those pieces together with a couple of different scenarios:

You’re going out for a 30 minute zone 2 run after being on your feet and moving around for a while. You’ve got no aches or pains associated with running. You’ve got nothing in your running form that you’re working to improve. Just go run! If it’s truly zone 2, those first few minutes can act as your warm up.

You’re going out for that same run, but you’ve been sedentary for the last couple of hours and you’ve got some hip stability issues that you’re working on while running. Walk at a brisk pace for 3-5 minutes then work through some single leg stability drills, then get to your run.

You’re going to the track for some half mile and mile repeats. Then warm up with some light zone 1-2 laps, do a walking series to work through leg/hip mobility and activation, work on specific issues if you have them, do some striders, then get into the workout. This is regardless of activity over the past couple hours.

In short, what is the current condition of your body compared to what you want it to do on your run? The farther those 2 points are from each other, the more you need to warm up for that run.

Need help diagnosing and addressing issues, and then incorporating strategies into your run warm up? We can help.