"Warming up" and "Drills", are awaste of time and energy

I'd pay good money to see skinny distance runners twerk as part of their warm up routine

Hey, jamin, here's a great new video concept for you!

You're kinda dumb man

10-15 min run at like 9:40 pace

Then

Side shuffle

carioca

backwards skips

skips

toe touches

kicks

then 4 strides.

aaand you're golden

I agree, to an extent. Drills are a waste of time and energy. Warmups, not so much. A proper warmup includes a couple miles of jogging, followed by a few mins at tempo pace and a handful of strides. I've seen college teams spending over an hour doing all sorts of ridiculous things when a warmup should take about 25 mins.

You do whatever you need to do to 'mentally' get in the zone.

Mo Farah spent over an hour warming up for the 10000m at London 2012.

That's what champions do.

I asked a sub 14:50 woman what her warm up was:

She sent me a detailed email and said it should be 45-60 minutes depending on the weather.

If you run out of energy warming up for a race then you're pathetically out of shape.

runn wrote:

I asked a sub 14:50 woman what her warm up was:

She sent me a detailed email and said it should be 45-60 minutes depending on the weather.

If you run out of energy warming up for a race then you're pathetically out of shape.

^this

I don't warm up until about 3 miles. So after a 5k I'd be ready to do a 5k

I assume you're one of those people that stay in the car with the heat on until race start time?

I'm sort of surprised to hear that the majority spend upwards of 20 minutes warming up. I'm not that fast (16:30), but I feel ready to go after just 10-15 minutes of jogging and a few strides. Maybe it's because I'm 27 yo though.

If you work sitting at a desk, you need to warm up and do some cross training or you will get injured. I was indestructible when I worked construction in my teens and early 20s but once I sat down...

Twerking as a pre race warmup routine? I've now heard it all.

Save energy for the race wrote:

People doing 20-30 minute warm ups for a 5k is insane, I saw a group of girls warming up, and the things they were doing seemd ridiculous, they would hop from side to side, walk backwards, then they started doing something that looked like twerking, whole thing took about 20-30 minutes what a complete waste of energy.

Takes me 20 minutes to get out of a chair.

vdfgbfg wrote:

I'm sort of surprised to hear that the majority spend upwards of 20 minutes warming up. I'm not that fast (16:30), but I feel ready to go after just 10-15 minutes of jogging and a few strides. Maybe it's because I'm 27 yo though.

My coach has us warming up an hour before our race, I'm actually a bit surprised at the other responses.

Maybe it's a highschool thing, but drilling and strides and jogs have always been part of a habit

In seriousness though all these anecdotes aside, there really is no controversy from a scientific standpoint.

The blood chemistry required for high wattage output is very different to the blood chemistry required for low wattage output. And surprise surprise the human body is not capable of a step-change between these states. It needs time to make the transition.

For long and perhaps even middle distance (not sure about middle, dragons reside here), the shorter the distance the longer the warmup.

Anyone running 800m or less ignore me. You guys should consult your local alchemist. Your distance essentially requires magic.

Save energy for the race wrote:

People doing 20-30 minute warm ups for a 5k is insane, I saw a group of girls warming up, and the things they were doing seemd ridiculous, they would hop from side to side, walk backwards, then they started doing something that looked like twerking, whole thing took about 20-30 minutes what a complete waste of energy.

If you are out of energy after a 20min warmup, then you are woefully out of shape.

You do whatever makes you feel good. In my case, an extended warmup (2mi) helps me get in the "zone". I use the time to revisit my race strategy, get a good rhythm going and pump myself up mentally. I do a few strides just before the start to sharpen a bit.

Randy Oldman wrote:

Save energy for the race wrote:

People doing 20-30 minute warm ups for a 5k is insane, I saw a group of girls warming up, and the things they were doing seemd ridiculous, they would hop from side to side, walk backwards, then they started doing something that looked like twerking, whole thing took about 20-30 minutes what a complete waste of energy.

Takes me 20 minutes to get out of a chair.

POD

Maybe it's a highschool thing, but drilling and strides and jogs have always been part of a habit

The 14:50 girl was not in high school. She's a current pro.

I always felt warming up was absolutely necessary before racing or fast running. Even when I played baseball in my early teens, I needed to do some moving before I felt ready to go.

However, once, when coaching some junior high boys, I timed a kid before and after a 50 meter sprint, as I thought this would prove the benefit of a warmup to the kids on the team. To my surprise, he ran just as fast without a warm up as he did after a warm up.

I was baffled by that one, I'll tell you.

nmriu34- wrote:

If you work sitting at a desk, you need to warm up and do some cross training or you will get injured. I was indestructible when I worked construction in my teens and early 20s but once I sat down...

+1