Suggest Stretches for a (relatively) New Runner

In My Humble Opinion
1

I’ve been meaning to post this for a while now, but this thread about getting started out running sorta kicked me into it.

I’m actually right now on week 9 of Cool Running’s couch-to-5K running plan. I’ve also been using their stretches, or to be entirely honest, certain ones of them: numbers 1 through 5, 7, and 12.

The problem is that I really don’t like a lot of these stretches. The first ‘wall pushup’ seems just fine for stretching the calves, but the second doesn’t do anything to speak of, and the third, while I can definitely feel a (not unpleasant!) stretch in my back, is rather awkward; I tend to feel as if I’m going to tip over. Most of the additional stretches listed that I don’t do are for similar reasons; number 6, the quadriceps stretch, feels more like pumping iron than stretching :P, 8 and 9 don’t seem to do a thing in the world (and in the case of the iliotibial band one, looks and feels -really- flippin’ silly).

Are there some good stretches to replace or add to my current set that you running veterans can suggest? Ideally, I prefer things that I don’t need more than myself and maybe a wall or floor to do; the towel needed for the hamstring stretch is something I’d like to eliminate, if I could. Also, bizarre contortions should be kept to a minimum; google searching for iliotibial band stretches seems to show a preference for things that twist you into a pretzel. Any advice will be much appreciated. Thanks all!

2

I’m a Pilates student, not a runner, but the stretching exercises from Kit Laughlin have been highly recommended to me. You might find them useful.

For working your IT bands, you can also use a foam roller (examples)–see here (scroll partway down) for one example of how you can use it. As your IT bands get looser, you can put more weight on them, but in the beginning it will hurt a lot (as in, if you don’t feel like either crying or cursing, you haven’t found the right spot).

Don’t feel like you have to do a particular stretching exercise if it’s not working for you.

3

If you have pains or feel that the stretching exercise does not seem to work, you are probably doing it wrong. It is not always easy to understand an exercise just from reading oneself to it. I would suggest someone to demonstrate such exercises to you.

When it comes to which stretching exercises are adequate to running, I guess it all depends on what you have been taught, or are being suggested to do. As an old soccerplayer, I have kept the stretching exercises with me from then when stretching after jogging as well. From the exercises linked to in the OP I recognise 1, 7, 8 and 12. For number 1, what I do when I do a number 1 (no pun intended), is that I push against the wall with one leg at a time, keeping the knee straight and pushing until I feel the stretch in my calve, and I keep it until I have counted slowly to 30. Then I change the position for the other leg. This can also be done without a wall to push against. You can instead push against the ground, one leg at a time, keeping the knee strraight and pushing til you feel the stretch.
Then I do a number 7, but I do’nt hold my foot on the instep, but just behnd my toes, pointing them skywards, and bending the leg back against ny back until I can feel the front of the thigh stretch.
Then I do one that is not illustrated in your, but I’ll try to describe it. It stretches the whole back of your thigh. The easiest way to do it is to just prop one leg up on a fence, keep it straight in the knee, and also keept the leg you are standing on straight. Then you bend forward touching your toes (or in that genereal direction), and hold the stretch counting slowly to 30 when you feel the stretch. Do it for both legs of course. If you dont have a fence, sit down on the ground, one leg pointing forward, the other pointing backward with your leg out to the side and pointing backward. Then keeping you back fairly straight stretch towards your toes and hold counting slowly to 30 when you feel the stretch.
Then I do a number 12 as the last exercise, because by then all the endorfines from both running and stretching will lull you in to this almost lotus kind of position.

I usually dont do any more exercises than these, since doing a cycle of minimum three sets in each exercise, usually ends up in me stretching for 20 minutes.

I must stress that when you stretch: do not rock back and forward, but push in the stretchng direction until you feel the stretch and hold it. It should not feel painful the wrong way, there is however good pain too, but you should feel the muscle stretch.

Also, this is all from my own experience, I dont do this professinally or anything, but these four exercises have kept me from being stiff the day after running.

Good luck! :slight_smile:

4

I ran a marathon, ran 30-40 miles a week, and I never stretched one single day.

Now, I race my bicycle, and I never stretch training or racing for that either. I speed skate, never stretch.

I never stretched when I used to play soccer. . .of course I blew my knee out playing soccer, but I don’t think stretching would have prevented that.

I think there’s some debate about the benefits of it. If anyone can find a definitive study proving the benefits of stretching, I’d be interested in seeing it.

Anyway, my point is this: if you don’t like stretching and you don’t think you’re getting any benefit from it, don’t do it and see if it makes a difference.

5

1 & 2 feel very different to me - but I have very tight achilles tendons & so small variations in calf stretches matter.

3 -I wouldn’t do against a wall. (You’re right, you’ll feel like you’ll fall over) do it against something that you can hang off of and won’t give (a bar, the top of a sturdy fence, the back of a chair.) The person in the picture isn’t going to be stretching so much as worrying about balancing (not that balance isn’t important, but that stretch feels really good when you can just rest into it.)

4 has never done a thing for me. Ever.

5 really doesn’t need a towel, but many people find it easier to do the stretch correctly with a towel.

6 is begging for a knee problem.

8&9 are both good for my back, but they’re also subtle - if I’m doing them wrong, I won’t feel a thing. If I do them right, they’re great. I’ve never seen an IB stretch (without the foam roller) that didn’t involve contortions, sorry.

Thing is, I like stretching. And I can tell the difference on the days when I stretch an don’t. Especially the next morning. I don’t necessarily do any particular set of stretches, I mostly do what my body is telling me needs doing - so it’s hard to come up with a list.

6

I couldn’t imagine doing that. My muscles are clenching just thinking about it.

I used to stretch before and after running then I read in a running book that had great advice about everything else that pre-workout stretching is basically useless as long as one starts with a slow, good warm-up. I’ve been trying it for the past two weeks and I gotta say they gotta point.

7

I have to warn against this, I’ve been running for a year now and I go roughly 20 miles a week. The last couple of weeks I lessened my stretching routine and now my foot is quite sore.

Talking to the OP now, you may not notice the benefits…but that may also be because you haven’t been injured. Nothing is worse then getting into a great fitness routine like running, and then being sidelined due to injury. If you can get to a gym see if a trainer can go over a stretching routine with you.