We should start this post with this phrase: "I sell advice, and I don't have any for myself". We are the first ones to walk to the "sewer" of the Peralta canal, we hit the clock... and we start running! And as the kilometers go by, we realize how hard the first two kilometers are for us... So after consulting people "more professional" than us, we have created a series of basic exercises to warm up and activate the body before we start running like crazy... A hint: We will use the Foam Roller.
Don't forget that a good warm-up routine will help us to run better, no doubt about it!
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Foam Roller warm-up exercises before running
The most general part would be to do a light jogging, at a gentle pace to warm up and start unwinding the body. But we found it very interesting to warm up with the Foam Roller! An idea that my cousin Miguel Sobejano gave us; with this tool we can mobilize and warm up all the muscles, as well as stretch at the end of our training session.
The Foam Roller is a PVC roller with protrusions designed for myofascial release of the different parts of the body. It is a compact device, the most complete and easy to transport and handle.
- Improves blood flow.
- Activates and recovers the muscles before and after exercise.
- Relieves muscle tension, achieving a decrease in post-workout stiffness pain.
- Increases muscle flexibility and decreases stiffness.
Myofascial release exercises are a series of exercises of between 60 and 90 seconds aimed at mobilizing all the muscles before or after the race; thus achieving a greater range of motion / better circulation or accelerate the process of muscle recovery respectively.
The correct order is to start with the sole of the foot and work your way up (calves, abductors, adductors, back, pectoral...) to finish in the upper body.
Basic routine with repetitions
We are going to propose a basic routine, one or two repetitions of between 60 and 90 seconds each exercise. That is, rolling the Foam Roller for 60-90 seconds on each muscle group or zone, with a smooth and continuous movement on a yoga mat or on the floor itself. The roller should be placed transversally to the muscle fibers.
In the following pictures, we show you the main muscle groups to work with the Foam Roller.
1. Soleus
2. Calf muscles
3. Abductors
4. Abductors
5. Peroneus
6. Thoracic Spine
7. Pectoral
And when you finish running... Hit the Foam Roller again
When we finish the run, we should hit the Foam Roller again, in the same order, to get relief from the different muscle groups. We could also include stretching with elastic bands. All this aimed at achieving a total relaxation of the muscles.
We hope we have been able to help you a little bit in the handling of the Foam Roller with these quite graphic pictures!
Enjoy what's left of the summer...we're almost back to school! Our next post will be about how we have organized ourselves to continue "training" during the summer, making compatible the house -which we have abandoned so much during the school year-, the vacations of the little ones, etc.
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