Kids of STEEL — Warm Up

Before you start your race, or any form of physical activity, it is very important to warm-up properly. Your body will be most effective after being gradually warmed-up as opposed to jumping right into your race without any preparation. By stretching and doing other exercises to warm-up you will raise your body temperature, expand the range of motion of your body, and increase the blood flow to your muscles. This will help your body prepare to run to the best of your ability on that day and also help prevent injuries. Think of it like driving a car. You wouldn’t start it and then immediately floor the gas pedal. That would damage the engine and tires. Your body works similarly when exercising.

A quality warm-up only needs to take about 5 minutes, a little shorter or a little longer depending on the intensity of the run or physical activity you are about to do.

The dynamic stretches listed below will help activate all of the necessary muscle groups to get you ready for your run!