Stop Stretching Before Runs—Do This 7‑Minute Routine Instead

[00:00:00] If you think stretching before running prevents injuries, the research and the science says otherwise, multiple studies over 20 plus years, show static stretching before exercise doesn’t meaningfully reduce injury risk, and it gets worse. So those 20 minutes of quad pulls and toe touches, they’re dropping your power output.

[00:00:17] Right when you need it most for the run. Here’s what Elite Runners do instead. In this episode, I’ll be going over what the research actually says about stretching your injuries, why runners need springy muscles not loose ones, a whole bunch of science backed evidence to help you run faster. And a free training plan and cheat sheet guide so you can understand everything I just said and take it into action in your running life.

[00:00:41] I’m Daren D Lake certified run coach and runner of 30. Years, but the first 15 years of running, I stretched before every run ’cause I didn’t know any better. Then I read the research, stopped stretching, cold, started moving instead. Huge game changer. I used that and many other 1% changes to help me go sub three hours in the marathon, sub 17 minutes in 5K, and my goal is to show 100,000 other self coach runners how to do that too.

[00:01:07] Let’s get into it. Before we start, we gotta define a few things. So flexibility is how far a muscle can stretch passively, like touching your toes or again, that quad pole stretch with your leg where you pull it up. Everyone does that. Mobility, which gets confused with flexibility is how well your joints move through their full range of motion.

[00:01:25] During an activity like your hip rotating while running, or if you’re doing the bird dogs where you’re kind of kneeling on all fours and raising your hip hop or donkey kicks, that sort of thing, that’s mobility. Flexibility is passive. Mobility is active and controlled. Think of it like this. You wouldn’t pull a rubber band to its limit and hold it there before using it in a slingshot.

[00:01:46] You want it to naturally rest first, then ready store. Pull it back, then release energy sufficiently stretching, improves flexibility by pulling a muscles to its end range static, or moving it through ranges, over and over. Dynamic. When you hold a stretch, your nervous system relaxes and lets your muscles lengthen for a short time.

[00:02:04] But stretching a cold muscle before run just makes it longer and less springy The opposite of what running needs. This is the whole idea of running and the elastic recoil that our bodies do naturally to spring us forward. So now that we cover the basics. How do you think we got into static stretching, pre-run as a culture?

[00:02:22] So for decades, stretching before exercise was just what everyone did. Coaches, PE teachers. My basketball coach, I remember he was like, oh, stretch. Before we did anything, it was like literally we walk in and we just stretch athletes. They all did it because it felt right. If your muscles are tight, it equals bad.

[00:02:37] If your muscles are loose, it equals good. Nobody had actually tested it. The idea spread from gut feeling misread early studies in the sense that you were doing something. Useful. By the time researchers finally ran studies, stretching was already baked into sports culture. The results of those studies, nothing.

[00:02:55] Study after study showed static stretching before exercise does not reduce injury or improve performance, but changing a belief that’s been around for decades. It’s hard even now. You’ll see runners holding quad stretches before runs. Bad ideas stick because they feel right even when the data says otherwise.

[00:03:12] So stretching doesn’t prevent injuries and drops your power. What should you do instead? You should skip static stretching before runs and do dynamic warmups instead. I made a full video on this whole seven minute warmup routine that I have. You can get the link, uh, up above or the link below in the episode description, but here’s the short version.

[00:03:31] So here’s that dynamic warmup. You want to just move your body in some way that’s similar to running for seven minutes. That’s the easiest thing you can do standing, marching in place. You can do burpees. You could literally walk and then get. Into a really slow run. That’s fine. If you wanna do a bit more.

[00:03:47] I like doing a bit more. You can do leg swings, so front to back, uh, or you could do side to side leg swings. Do five to eight each side. Then you could do walking lunges. I like to do about four to five each leg. You could do high knees. This is probably after you’ve actually warmed up with easy running and walking.

[00:04:06] And I like to do high knees at the end of the whole seven minutes. All you gotta do is about. 10 to 12 total butt kicks. Again, 10 to 12 total. And then I like to do what I call windups. So they’re like the reverse of strides, which I did a whole episode on strides. If you heard of strides, you’re like, what are strides?

[00:04:24] I went deep on those. Strides are usually for either the middle or the end of the workout. You could do them beginning if you want. But I like to do a version of that, which is windups, which is like three to five seconds, and you’re just like accelerating in and then you’re kind of like stopping. That’s it.

[00:04:36] No holding, no pulling, just movement. Your muscles warm up, your blood flow increases, your nervous system wakes up, then you run. Alright, that’s a lot of information to take in. So I made it super easy for you to remember by creating a free training plan and cheat sheet. With the exact movements written out, there’s a quick start guide and a free base training plan thrown in there to incorporate it all into your own training.

[00:04:58] Get it at the link below in the episode description or the QR code right here if you want to know what the catch is with this free stuff that I’m giving out. There is none, but if you want to help another self-coach runner and pay it forward, just watch this to the end. That is all. I will thank you virtually, or just like and subscribe.

[00:05:17] You know, you can do that thing or comment below in YouTube or Spotify if you static stretch. So that’s the whole. Toe hole, just static stretching. Before you run and tell me if it helps you or if it hurts you, I’d love to know either way so we know what to do before running. What about post-run stretching?

[00:05:35] Do it if you want. After you run, your muscles are warm and blood flow is high. That’s most likely the best time for static stretching. If you care about maintaining flexibility. Does it help with recovery? Probably not. Research shows static stretching doesn’t significantly reduce muscle soreness after runs, but it does help with flexibility and if you want to keep your range of motion or improve it over time, just for general help.

[00:05:57] So this is being a, you’re zooming outta running, you’re just being a human and you wanna be flexible post run, stretching works. Just don’t overdo it, I’d say. Three to four minutes max is fine. One to two minutes is actually fine too. Just in that range. You don’t wanna be holding and pulling. We don’t need to do all that very gentle stuff.

[00:06:14] Nothing where you feel like you did a workout after the workout. So here’s a quick post run routine that I like to do. I actually like to do reverse plyometrics and dynamic movements as I’m kind of coming back from my run the last two to three minutes I might do. Three to four butt kicks, three to four high knees, some leg swings.

[00:06:30] I might do strides at the end. So this is when I get home and before I meditate. And uh, yes, I like to meditate right after a workout. It works really well for me, but I like to do calf stretches because calves, they get tight from running. So I’m sure most people will have tighter calves than normal ’cause we’re all running.

[00:06:47] And your calves do a lot of work ’cause the achilles tendon. So try to stretch each side without pain. 20 to 30 seconds gently. You can slowly move into it. If you have any pain, please stop. You could do quad pulls if you want, which that like pulling your leg up sort of thing. You can do the hamstring stretch where you bent over toes, touching your toes with mostly straight legs.

[00:07:07] And I really like to do hip flexor stretches. Uh, all these stretches, by the way, are 20 to 30 seconds each, but for hip flexors, I will actually get into a very deep squat. And I just sit there and slowly like, push out my legs. Um, I’ll do the one where I kind of have my leg extended and I’m doing that and put my arm up and I’ll do leg swings again or some form of like putting my leg over to kind of like the side.

[00:07:31] There’s a video of this, if you’re listening to this. There is a video of this, um, where I put my legs, like kind of, um, what they call pigeon pose, I think it’s called. And I do the inside pigeon pose. I do outside pigeon pose. My hips feel good and I’m done. But if you don’t believe me, here’s what the science says about all the stretching stuff.

[00:07:48] So multiple reviews over the past 20 years land in the same place. Static stretching before exercise does not reduce injury risk. The big one. In 1999, researcher Ian Schrier looked at all the studies on stretching and injuries. He found zero. Donut proof that stretching before exercises stops injuries, even though that’s what everyone’s taught in gym class.

[00:08:08] So stretching first doesn’t keep you safe. Here’s another issue, it makes you somewhat weaker. A 2013 study of 104 research papers found that static stretching before exercise drops your strength by 5.4% and your explosive power by two. Percent. That’s real performance loss, right? When you need your best output, that matters most for sprinting and lifting.

[00:08:30] But even for distance running, you’re dulling the spring in your muscles again, when you need them most right before you run. It’s not dangerous, it’s just pointless. So here’s the story of how I honestly learned all about this like stretching thing and how it was such a game changer to not stretch. So for years, I stretched before every run.

[00:08:48] Because again, that’s what I thought you’re supposed to do. Then I read Phil Malone’s big book of endurance, and he said something that changed everything. Just stop stretching cold. And I did. I switched to dynamic warmups instead. All those things that I told you and I felt fine. I’m gonna say I actually felt better.

[00:09:03] Here’s why runners need elastic stiffness. The ability to store and release energy like that spring that I told you earlier, the rubber band, your Achilles tendon, and other. Tissue stretch and snap back with every step. That’s elastic recoil, and that’s free energy. Like we want to bounce off and not when you don’t wanna be flexible, that’s not good.

[00:09:21] You also don’t wanna power. We’re just letting physics do its thing and we’re bouncing off the ground and moving forward and propelling ourselves forward. Static stretching temporarily reduces that stiffness. The spring gets softer and you lose the bounce. Again, ditch the static stretching, just move instead.

[00:09:36] But if you’re smart and you’ve been around this long, you might be asking about flexibility. Should we be more flexible? Is stiffness being good? Why stretch at all? I’d say it’s because long-term flexibility helps prevent compensation patterns. So that’s just fancy terms for your muscles, just getting tight and then not allowing you to do the running or possibly injuring you because everything is just kind of tight and we want it to still be somewhat loose.

[00:10:00] We want a level of tightness, but also. A level of looseness. We want that Goldilocks middle zone, tight hips or calves can force your body to move in ways that cause problems down the line, especially if you’re running a lot. That’s the compensation patterns. We don’t want that stretching on rest days or after runs.

[00:10:16] It can help that, but that’s long-term thinking, not pre-run thinking. Pre-run. You want your muscles awake and springy. That’s a long-term thing, not a pre-run thing. If you haven’t already, download that free warmup. The right way, the whole seven minute routine, uh, before runs training plan and cheat sheet.

[00:10:32] You’ll also sign up for my email newsletter where I go deeper on topics like this, VO two Max Temple runs, why virtual coaches, smart watches, and AI is stupid, et cetera. Get out the QR code here or the link below in the episode description if you’re really wanting to know how to get ready before a run the right way.

[00:10:49] Go and watch the next episode below on my magical seven minute warmup routine peace.