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5 stretches every runner needs in their life

George Pearse
George Pearse

Running season is in full swing, with Londoners busy pounding the pavements and parks in preparation for the races ahead.

But are you stretching correctly? A good stretching routine is crucial. It increases blood flow to your muscles, prevents injuries, allows for a fuller range of motion for your joints and heightens flexibility - the fundamentals of performane.

Here, personal trainer George Pearse talks you through five lower body stretches that are essential for race day.

1. Hip flexors

The hip flexors are a group of muscles at the front of the hip, which work to help raise your knees – a running staple. They also get extremely tight amongst your average sedentary office worker. To stretch out the hips, come into a kneeling position, before taking the left foot forward to 90’ with the body, adopting a lunge stance.

Starting with your hands at your hips, drive forward gently through your left knee, until you can feel a tightening in the top of your left hip – the locking point will differ from person to person so play around until you find an effective stretch for you personally. Keeping your buttocks clenched throughout, once you feel the stretch take hold, gently raise your hands above your head and lean slowly over to the left side, conscious of maintaining form, keeping the chest broad and open. Hold for 20 seconds and repeat on your right side.

2. Hamstrings

Hamstring stretch, using a resistance band (George Pearse)
Hamstring stretch, using a resistance band (George Pearse)

The hamstring muscle helps bend the knee and straighten up your hip. Start by lying on your back, before raising one foot high the air, the other leg can either be relaxed flat against the ground, or the knee at 45’. Aim to reach both hands up to take a hold of your toes, keeping the left heel high into the air; a good tip is to imagine you’re trying to write on the ceiling with a pencil. If you can’t reach your toes just yet, resistance bands are great for assistance.

Note that the hamstrings take longer than most muscles to relax so hold each of these stretches for at least 30 seconds. If you can rope in some assistance, get a friend or training buddy to help hold the stretching leg in place, gradually increasing the resistance according to your level of flexibility: “say when”.

3. Quadriceps

Quadricep stretch (Georg Pearse)
Quadricep stretch (Georg Pearse)

Tight quadriceps are often the cause of knee pain so this is an essential move for injury prevention. Spinning around onto your front, lying down flat, rest your forehead onto your right forearm. Reach the left hand back and take hold of the laces of your trainer, just below your ankle joint if you’re bare footed at this point. You’re aiming to get your left heel onto your bum. The knees should be aligned, the left hip driving down into the floor as your raise the left knee just off the ground, 5-10cm.

Aim to keep your stomach completely flat against the floor, with the pelvis titled forward, creating a flat back in the process. This also has benefits for deeper lying muscles such as the psoas, the muscle tasked with responsibility for stabilising and balancing your upper body. Hold here for 20 seconds before repeating on the right thigh.

4. Calves

A final stretch that you’ll see being performed against trees in any park worth its salt is the calf stretch. Made up of two segueing muscles, the lower half of the back of the leg warrants all the attention it gets. For women in high heels, it can get particularly tight. To keep the muscle long and lean, place both hands against the wall, before taking the left foot back, planting it flat against the floor. Your right leg remains forward in a lunge position, acting as a stabiliser.

Spread your body weight between the left heel and your hands, straightening the back leg for maximum impact; this should stretch high into the calf. Then stretch the lower half, maintain this position but simply drop the left knee carefully towards the floor, whilst keeping your left heel rooted. Take care with this area generally as the Achilles is not a tendon you want to mess with.

5. Feet

An area seriously neglected by runners and regular exercisers alike is the soles of their feet. There are 26 bones in each foot and yet almost all mention of stretching and post exercise care focuses upon other impact areas of the body. To free up the muscles of the foot, helping to prevent any onset of nasty plantar fasciitis in the process, turn to a frozen water bottle. Simply roll the frozen bottle under the soles of your feet. Perform after any exercise with high impact for 5-10 minutes. Equally important is investing in the right footwear. www.sportshoes.com have one of the widest online selections available.

George Pearse is a personal trainer with freshfitlondon.com