warmup

Cold temperatures are no reason to stop running outside; in fact, maintaining your running schedule even when temperatures drop can help strengthen your immune system and prevent catching a cold or flu. One quick way to discourage any outdoor-running intentions is not warming up adequately. Not warming up before a chilly run can be a shock to your body, causing muscles to feel tighter and become more prone to injury. If you'll be running outside during the cold months, here are three ways to warm up your muscles for that chilly-weather run.

• Dynamic stretching: Doing these five easy moves indoors before you head out to a run will raise your heart rate and loosen joints and muscles the right way (i.e., without stretching them cold). Get the five moves for an active warmup here.
• Five-minute wake-up: Winter weather can make even the most active among us feel sluggish and ready to curl up on the couch. Wake up your body and mind with this five-minute warm-up workout that's perfect to do before a morning run. This sequence even involves a few tension-releasing yoga poses to help wake your body up.
• Quick indoor warm-up ideas: Your warm-up doesn't need to be complicated; the point is to elevate your heart rate and to warm muscles before your jog. These five simple warm-up exercises — like one minute of mountain climbers or 10 sun salutations — accomplish the job perfectly.

A proper warmup starts your workout on the right foot, prepping both your muscles and lungs for what's to come. Once the staple of readying the body for exercise, stretching has fallen under scrutiny of late. Studies have found that static stretching, holding the stretch for 30 seconds to two minutes, is basically a wash as it neither causes nor prevents injury. And if your workout involves sprinting and jumping, slow passive stretching can result in a loss of muscle strength and power, which is no good if you're in it to win it.

So if slow, meditative stretching is out, how exactly should you warm up? Well if soccer or any other high-intensity sport is your game, orthopedic physical therapist Colleen Birmingham, of the Running Center at CPMC in San Francisco, suggests some dynamic stretching — moves that lengthen muscles while you're in motion, like walking lunges and leg kicks. Active stretches "increase blood flow to muscles in a functional pattern of movement without impairing performance," explains Birmingham, who has a sports conditioning background.

I'm into plyometrics workouts (read: will jump when my trainer says so) and will suffer through speed drills, but the majority of my workouts fall under the low-intensity category — endurance running, cycling, and swimming. For these workouts, Birmingham reminded me that research has shown no benefits to stretching, either dynamically or statically. For this reason, Colleen recommends warming up by going "slow for the first 10 percent of your run, bike, or swim and steadily ramp up. This tactic allows your muscles to warm up so you can go the distance without wasting time and energy stretching." However, Santa Monica-based trainer and owner of Training Adventures, Paul Vincent, likes a short dynamic warmup pre-run complete with "running drills and different muscle activations." For the seasoned Ironman triathlete, the warmup is also a time to assess the state of your body: "The objective is to not only get the body warm, but to check in and see what’s tight or sore so you can deal with that before training."

Get the skinny on race-day warmups when you read more.

There's nothing like a good multitasking stretch to get your muscles ready for a workout. My trainer at Crunch has me do this stretch sequence to combat muscle tightness I have from sitting at a desk all day, but it's easily as useful for runners, cyclists, and anyone else who needs to stretch the lower body muscles. And if you like yoga, you'll love this sequence; each stretch uses the principles of popular yoga poses to stretch your hip flexors, hamstrings, and calves.

Ready to start? Remember to do a quick five-minute cardio warmup like jogging in place before attempting these stretches; hold each position for 30 seconds and repeat the sequence twice on each side (a total of six minutes).

1. Start at a lunge position, with your right leg bent in front of you at a 90-degree angle. Raise your left leg so your knee is off the ground and lean forward, placing hands on the floor at the same line as your forward foot (see photo above). Bend your right arm and place elbow at knee, grab left side of chest with your right hand, and slowly slide your elbow down your bent leg, looking to your left and deepening your stretch as you go. Like the Extended Side Angle Pose, this move stretches your hip flexors and hamstrings. Hold for 30 seconds.

There are two more stretches, so read on for the rest of the sequence.