I have another guest post for you this morning provided by Sarah who represents Victorem, a brand that specialises in resistance bands. Thanks Sarah. Although I use resistance bands on an almost daily basis, I haven’t personally used Victorem resistance bands. I wasn’t provided any Victorem resistance bands to review, so I don’t feel I’m in a position to recommend them or to provide any feedback on them.

Resistance bands are fabulous tools to have in your runner’s kit. Warming up with resistance bands will help you improve your performance. How? By not only building your strength but your flexibility and sense of balance too.

It’s essential to warm up before every run to avoid injury and help you run with better form. You want to warm up with exercises that mimic the movements you do when you run.

And when we say warm-up, we don’t mean static stretching! Static stretching is what you want to do after a run, as it relaxes the muscles. Doing static stretching before a run can actually slow you down.

The best kind of warm-up before running is a dynamic one. You want to increase your joints’ range of movement, which is where resistance bands come into their own. Doing a dynamic warm-up also increases your heart rate and literally gets you ready to run!

Here are the exercises to ensure you are properly warmed up before running.

1.Leg swings

For this exercise, you can use a long resistance band. Leg swings stretch your hamstrings and open up your hip flexors.

• Stand on one leg with the resistance band underneath the middle of your foot. Both hands should be holding the ends of the band.
• Raise your hands as high as you wish to get the optimum level of resistance.
• Balance on the other foot while swinging the banded leg from side to side in front of you.
• Keep your back straight. Tuck in your pelvis.
• Do 15 reps on each leg.

Note: If balancing is difficult for you, hold one hand on a fence or swing.

2.Lateral band walks

To do this exercise, you’ll need a hip circle resistance band.

• Put the hip circle band around your ankles and stand with your feet hip-distance apart. Keep your back straight at all times. You can rest your hands on your hips.
• Now walk crab-style to the right, bringing your far foot to meet the other foot each time.
• When you’ve taken enough steps, repeat on the other side.

[Source]

3.Squats

• Put the hip circle band around your thighs and sink into a low squat while you exhale. Ensure your back is straight and that you are leaning slightly forward with your pelvis tucked in.

Variation: You can do lateral squats if you wish, moving to the right for ten steps and then back across to the left.

4.Forward lunges

• Use a longer resistance band, wrapping it around your thighs.
• Put one foot far forward and sink into a low lunge so that the back knee is almost touching the ground.
• Come up and put the other foot forward.
• Work your way across for at least 20 reps total.

[Source]

5.Hip flexor marches

• For this exercise, wrap the resistance band around the middle of both feet and stand with your feet hip-distance apart.
• March in place while working against the resistance of the band.
• Your knees need to be bent at a 90-degree angle and your back should stay straight.
• Start with ten reps for each leg and work your way up to 15-20 reps per leg.

Variation: You can play with the speed of this exercise. Try marching very slowly and pausing at the top each time.

6.Sumo squat walks

This exercise will work your adductors.

• Put the resistance band around your thighs and stand in a sumo stance.
• The sumo stance is a squat but with your feet turned slightly outward.
• Sink into a low squat and take ten steps forward while in the squat position.
• Take ten steps back to start. You should feel the burn!

7.Banded dead bug

This exercise doesn’t sound very nice, but it’s excellent for your legs and back. The banded dead bug exercise also really works your abs.

• Lying on your back, raise your legs. Both knees need to be bent at a 90-degree angle and lifted in the air.
• Lift your arms straight up in the air (this is being a dead bug). You want both arms to be perpendicular to your body on the ground.
• Now kick your right leg out and down so that your foot is one inch off the ground.
• Reach out your left arm behind you at the same time. Hold for a few seconds, then return to start. That’s one rep.
• Repeat on the left side, and do as many reps as needed.

I hope you enjoy this resistance band warm-up for runners!

**Full disclosure: I didn’t receive form of payment or compensation for sharing this guest post. All photographs were purchased by the PR company and downloaded from Shutterstock using a standard licence that allows unlimited web distribution **

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