I’ve been in the bad habit of not stretching or warming up before I go out on my runs over the last few years and have recently started practicing a 5-minute routine to get me ready. I wish I started it sooner.

I don’t know when I stopped, maybe it’s the stigma against static stretching (which isn’t the same as warming up, of course) or just the fact that I know I don’t have much time, but I’ve paid for my negligence in doing any sort of pre-run warm-up.

Recently I’ve had a little leg injury that has been nagging at me, so I’m trying to be more diligent about mobility exercises, stretching, and generally keeping my body limber.

I’m doing a mix of the 5-minute warm-up from James Dunne and/or lunge matrix and leg swings from Jay Johnson (HT to Mario Fraioli).

I also have been thinking about how much warm-ups can help in other areas of life. Before a coaching session, before starting work, before painting, or really before starting anything, there is some sort of warm-up that would probably help.

I found the following quotes from Ed Sheeran that I had in a WILLW post from a couple years ago:

Let’s imagine you walked into a gym.

Would you go to the weights and pick up the heaviest weights? Not likely.

Would you head to the bike, jump on, and ride for an hour on your first visit?

What you know, instinctively, is that you need to warm up.

So are you doing the same thing with your writing? I bet not. I bet you put yourself in front of the screen and start trying to write something great.

This quote and video are great:

“When you stick on an old tap, it runs out muddy water for about a minute and then it starts flowing clean water,” said Sheeran, “songwriting and doing gigs is like that.”

Maybe this is as much about noticing transitions as it is about anything else.

Warm up and you’ll do better.