5-Minute Running Warm-Up | All Standing, No Repeats

Before you run, give me 5 minutes to prep your feet, ankles, knees, hips, and nervous system so your run feels smoother and stronger. All right, team, let's get ready to run. I'm Lindsey Bomgren of Nourish, Move, Love, and I'm joined by the amazing Caroline. Hello. We've got 7 moves I do before every single run. All body weight, no equipment, and no repeats. You're gonna do each move for 30 seconds followed by a 10-second transition. Do it once and then you're ready to run. So this is a quick go-to running warmup. We're gonna dive right in. We're gonna take our hands, big inhale up, exhale, hands go behind the head. You're gonna gimme one good morning, which is pushing your hips back, and one tib raise, which is pulling your toes towards your face. It looks like this, soft bend in those knees. We start in 3, 2, let's go. Push your hips back, stand tall, pull your toes towards your face. Push your hips back, warming up and activating that posterior chain. Pull your toes towards your face. That tib raise, or pulling your toes towards your face, is to warm up your tibialis, which runs right here along the front —of your shin and is one of the major shock absorbers while you're running, right? A great way to protect our knees, great way to stay healthy and strong, avoid those shin splints as we get into running. Nice work. You got 5 seconds here. 3, 2, give me one more hinge. Stand tall. Nice. Now let's prep those ankles, Achilles, calves. You're going to give me a roll to the outside edge of your foot and then a calf raise in 3, 2, let's go. So roll to the outside, warm up that ankle, and then up. I know it seems funny, but it's not often we put our foot in this position. But if you're running, especially outside on some uneven terrain, we want to make sure that foot— your nervous system is fully prepped, your ankles are prepped, right? Good way to warm up the ankle complex, get those calves ready, and test your mobility too. How good are those ankles? Nice work. Awesome job. Push that outer edge and up. You're here for 5 seconds. 5 seconds in 3, 2, and rest. Now we're going to go into a knee hug. So just a basic pull the knee up. Give it a hug. Alternate, pull the knee up, give it a hug. Really think about lengthening through that glute. Right knee up in 3, 2, let's go. Pull that knee up. Now we're transferring that load from side to side, just like you're going to see in your run stride. So preparing the hips, lengthening through the glutes, giving those knees a nice little hug, getting ready to transfer weight from side to side as you get into that run stride. Nice. We're going to go for a nice hamstring lengthen and scoop on the next move. Basic exercises you could do outside, you could do anywhere. Using just your body weight to get your body ready to run. You're here for 4, 3, 2, and recover. Now we're gonna hit the posterior chain, backside of the body. So I'm going to kick my right toes up, give a big scoop and reach, and then switch. Left toes are going to go up, scoop and reach. Right foot in 3, 2, let's go! Here we go, scoop and reach. As you push those hips back, think about lengthening through the hamstring, the back of the leg. Now the hamstring is especially important if you're going to push your pace in today's run. If you are going to go for some interval runs, if you are going to be sprinting, the hamstring is power driver. So really important to warm up your hamstrings specifically if you're going to be pushing your pace or sprinting during your run today. Nice work, team! You're here for 5, 4, 3, 2. Give me one more scoop and reach. Awesome job! Now we're gonna go for a little leg swing. We're gonna add some power to what we just did, lengthening through that hamstring. So I'm going to step opposite hand, opposite toe, step back, switch, step, swing. Here we go, here we go! Step, kick, back, back, up. Nice! So opposite hand, opposite toe. What I want you to focus on here in this move is standing up nice and tall. So as I reach for that toe, the tendency is to round. Stand up tall, stand up tall, reach for that toe. Nice. Reach for that toe, adding a little power. Nice little leg swing, getting those hips ready to move through that run stride. Nice. You're here for 5, 4, 3, 2, one more swing and you're out. Nice work. Now we're going to move side to side, just a good old side to side squat. So you're going to step side, center, side, center. To your right in 3, 2, let's go. Now you're probably wondering why we're moving in this lateral plane of motion when your run stride is front to back. But we know that warming up those hip stabilizers, stepping side to side is a great way to protect our knees, right? Knees are really important for runners. We need those. We need strong, healthy knees. A great way to protect your knees and improve your running stride. More stable and strong your pelvis is and able to handle that lateral pattern, the better your running stride is ultimately going to be. Nice. Last 3, 2, and 1. We got one more move for you. It's time to get that nervous system firing. It's a high knee. Skip, skip, skip, skip. You're there in 3, 2. Let's go. Let's go. Skip, skip, skip, skip. Adding a little bound, adding a little impact. Nice. Time to get that nervous system firing. Poppy, this is your last move. After this, you're ready to hit the trail, ready to run. Whether you're taking off for 1 mile today, 3 miles, or 10, 15 miles, this is a great 5-minute warm-up you can do anywhere to make sure your body is fully prepped and ready to run in just 5 minutes. Finish it, guys! 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. You're ready to run. Nice work, nice work, nice work. I hope you have a great run, and I'd love to see you back on the mat for another Nourish Move Love workout sometime soon. I hope you add that dynamic warmup to your running routine. I've queued up another must-do workout for runners right here. Otherwise, I've got a full 2-week strength and run challenge for free in this playlist right here. Have a great day.