Warm Up Before Running Only 5 Minutes

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Warming up before running, can sound like a hassle. It's more time out of the house.   

“I’m going to have to get up earlier for my run

I finish work late enough as it is 

You want me to add more time onto my run in the evenings?!” 

We hear you. No one wants to spend 20 minutes warming up before running.  

You wouldn’t be alone either. A Runners World poll agrees. The poll found 75% of runners skip straight past the warm up too! (1)

So why is warming up before running so important? Is there a way you can warm up without it eating into the rest of your day? 

We’re going to answer both of those questions in this blog. We’ll also walk you through a warm up that you can do before running in less than 5 minutes.  

Why should you warm up?   

A warm up is the foundation of a good run. 

Your warm up bridges the gap from resting to ready to run. And... 

• Helps you can avoid injury. Warming up increases the elasticity of your muscles and tendons. You don’t want to go into a run cold, you’ll be more likely to pull a muscle  

• Gets your mind prepared to run. A good warm up gets you ready to run right from the start. Not a mile in when you’ve finally found your rhythm because you haven’t done a proper warm up  

• Helps you avoid joint pain. Your warm up releases synovial fluid to the working joints. This can help you to prevent joint pain when you run  

• Reduces muscle soreness. Runners who warm up get less muscle soreness the next day compared to those who don’t  

• Gets your breathing under control before you run. There’s nothing worse than having to ease off the pace at the start of your run because you can’t breathe. A proper warm up prepares your body so this doesn’t happen, helping you to run your fastest times  

Think about your warm up this way...  

On a freezing cold morning you wouldn’t start your car, put your foot down and drive at 70mph straight away, would you? 

Repeatedly doing this would increase the wear and tear on your car and you’d probably end up with a massive garage bill. 

This is why a warm up before your run is so important. If you don’t warm up, you’ll get injured pull a muscle or worse. If you want to make sure you’re not having to take weeks off at a time because you’ve injured yourself, do your warm up.   

Warming up before running in 5 minutes  

There are 4 parts to your new running warm up. I’ll explain each one in the order you should do them. 

The easiest way to remember this warm up is RAMP.  

RAMP stands for:  

• Raise  

• Activate  

• Mobilise  

• Potentiate  

The RAMP warm up was developed by Ian Jeffreys. This has been proven to be the most effective warm up for athletes and is used by elite coaches. (2) 

If it’s helping elite athletes like Eluid Kipchoge warm up, then we’re sure it will help you too. 

The idea of the RAMP warm up is to go from resting, to ready to run at the intensity of your session or race. 

Each section you move through gradually increases in intensity. You’re progressively building on the previous phase. This primes your body and mind to be firing on all cylinders before you start your run.  

Raise your pulse with cardio   

The first stage of your warm up is raise.  

The goal is to raise your body temperature and your heart rate. This is so you can get your muscles and tendons warm and more elastic.  

You can choose how to do your cardio here, but I must stress this should feel easy and NOT strenuous.  

All you need is 1-2 minutes to get your body moving and your heart rate and body temperature up.  

This is exactly how Nick and I start every single one of our sessions, whether that’s at the track or in the gym.   

Examples of cardio could be:  

• Rower  

• Treadmill  

• Cross trainer  

• Bike  

• Jogging outside  

The goal in the first part of your warm up is to raise your pulse

Cardio done now you need to activate your key muscles  

Now you’re ready to turn on and activate the key muscles you’re going to be using in your run session.  

The goal here is to keep your body and muscle temperature up. Switch on the muscles you’ll be using when you run, and replicate similar movements you’ll be doing in your run. 

If you’ve just woken up or you’ve been sat down in the office most of the day, you need to wake your muscles up. You need to let them know they’re about to do run.   

I love this quote from Loren Landow -  

“Activation not annihilation”  

All you need to do is 3-6 reps of each exercise to get your muscles firing and ready to workout.  

You should be able to do these without needing to rest between each. Which is another way you can save time.  

Running uses your whole body. So, you’ll need to switch on all the key muscles.  

Do the following exercises:    

• Glute bridge (3-6 reps)  

Single leg glute bridge

• Front plank (10-20 second hold)  

Front plank

• Single leg Romanian deadlift (3-6 reps)  

Single leg romanian deadlift

• Bodyweight squat (3-6 reps)  

Bodyweight squat

• Press ups (3-6 reps)

Now you’re turned on, it’s time to mobilise

You’re warm, you’re turned on, now you’re ready to mobilise your joints.  

The goal is to keep your body and muscle temperature up and increase your range of motion dynamically.  

By Doing this, you’ll have more stability, flexibility and control when you run.  

By mobilising your joints, your limbs won’t have a mind of their own and be flying about all over the place while you run. 

Here, you’re now moving into more specific running drills.  

Here’s what to do:  

• Hip windshield wipers (8-10 reps)  

Hip windshield wipers

• Prone calf dynamic stretches (8-10 reps)  

• Front leg swings (8-10 reps)  

Forward leg swings

• Skips (5-10 metres)  

Skips

• High knees (5-10 metres)  

High knees

• AB skips (5-10 metres)   

AB skips

Potentiation - the final step of your warm up 

As you’ve gone through this staged warm up:  

• You’ve been gradually increasing your intensity  

• You’ve kept your body and muscle temperature up  

• You’ve switched your muscles on  

• You’ve increased your range of motion in the joints  

• You’ve done a few specific running drills  

The last stage is to bring your intensity close to your run intensity and do a practice rep.   

A power lifter doesn’t go straight into trying to PB on a 1rep max. They’ll do a series of progressively heavier lifts before.  

A sprinter does a few faster sprints before their session or race.  As a runner, you should do the same.  

A few fast paced running strides for a short distance below your running intensity is what you need here.  

After this you’ll be ready to go into your run.  

Wrap up 

To recap...  

A warm up before running is important. It helps prevent injury or pulled muscles. Plus, you’ll be able to run your best times right away - not a mile in!  

Every time you warm up, think RAMP. Raise, Activate, Mobilise, and Potentiate – in that order.  

This simple warm up before running will only take you 5 minutes.  We know it’s tempting to head straight into your run especially if you’re short on time. 

A 5 minute commitment to a good warm up is the difference between staying fit and healthy all year round, knocking minutes off your PB, making your runs more enjoyable, and weeks off due to pulled muscles and not being the best, fastest runner you can be. 

Now that your warm up is sorted you’ll want to know how to cool down quickly.