TheFinalSprint.com - Track & Field, Marathons, Racing News, Training Advice, Elite Athlete Blogs, Interviews, Podcasts, Videos and More! - TheFinalSprint.com is the Premier Destination for Track & Field, Marathon, Cross Country, Olympic and Road Racing Enthusiasts.

Lead Stories: Tuesday, December 2, 2008

Stretch to increase performance and prevent injury

Posted November 28th, 2006 at 4:00 PM by Jenna Sumara

Section: Running & Training, Injury & Rehab

We’re all a little bit guilty of it. Sometimes we say we are too busy; we just forget; or some of us don’t think it’s all that important. I’m talking about stretching.

Although it may be more exciting to just go out and run and once most runners begin their workout they don’t want to stop; the importance of a good stretching program is worth the wait. Having a solid stretching habit can help prevent pain, injuries and keep you moving when you might otherwise have had to take extra time off to recover. Read the rest of this entry »

3 comments, add yours | Permalink

How to Warm Up

Posted October 22nd, 2006 at 5:56 PM by Martin Kennedy

Section: Running & Training, Injury & Rehab, Training Tips, Health & Fitness, Exercise

Warming up before you exercise helps to prevent injuries and lets you jump higher, run faster, lift heavier or throw further. Your warm-up should involve the same muscles and motions you plan to use in your sport.

For example, before you start to run very fast, do a series of runs of gradually-increasing intensity to increase the circulation of blood to the muscles you will be using.

Muscles are made up of millions of individual fibers, just like a rope made from many threads. When you start to exercise at a very slow pace, you increase the blood flow to muscle fibers, increase their temperature, and bring in more oxygen, so the muscles are more pliable and resistant to injury.

When you contract a muscle for the first time, you use less than one percent of your muscle fibers. The second time you bring in more fibers, and you keep on increasing the number of muscle fibers used in each contraction for several minutes of using that muscle.

Read the rest of this entry »

Comment on this post | Permalink