5 Stretches that are a must after a run

My top 5 stretches for runners, post run - hold for 15 to 30 seconds.

Hip Flexor Stretch:

As we all tend to sit down for a large period of our lives, our hip flexors get very tight. Tight hip flexors result in being more quad dominant, resulting in hamstring and glute weakness when running. To ensure you can engage your glutes (largest muscle in the body) whilst running, this hip flexor stretch is a must post workout stretch!

- come into a lunge and rest your back knee and foot on the ground

- rotate your hips forwards, engage your core (belly button to spine)

- gradually increase the stretch by pushing further forwards

Quad Stretch:

- from the hip flexor stretch, come back into an upright position

- flick your foot towards the sky and reach backwards to grab your foot

- be gentle with this stretch as the quad can be very tight and the hamstrings can become overly activated, causing a cramp

- if you cannot reach your foot, do this with your foot leaning against a wall or use a band around the top of your foot

- as the stretch starts to release the muscle, move further forwards to intensify the stretch again

Hamstring Stretch:

- from the quad stretch, rest the back foot on the ground again

- slowly extend the front leg to straight (if possible) as you move your hips backwards

- keep your hips square with the front of the mat, if they start to twist, come slightly up and realign yourself

Glute Stretch:

This is one of my favourite stretches, helping to activate and elongate your glutes.

- come into a full press up position

- bring your right knee half way between your hands and rest on the ground underneath your chest

- your right foot should now be under your left hip

- slowly slide your back foot towards the back of the mat and rest

- move your hips from one side to the other if you cannot feel this stretch in your glutes, stop when you feel any tightness

Calf Stretch:

There are two variants of this stretch. The first is downward dog. You can use this as a warmup stretch for your hamstrings and calves by bending your knees alternately and trying to move your foot further and further towards the ground.

- come into a press up position

- press your hands into the mat and send your hips into the air adding more pressure through your hands until your legs are as straight as you can make them

- try to press your hands further into the mat and sink your heels downwards

The second stretch is dolphin. If you do not feel the stretch in downward dog, rest on your elbows and see if you feel this stretch through your calves.

3 really good reasons why you shouldn't stop immediately after running ...

Toxins:

As you workout, your muscles produce waste products (toxins). For these toxins to exit the body, they need to be pushed into the lymphatic system. The lymphatic system runs along side your blood, however, unlike your blood, it doesn't have a pump. Instead of a pump, the body uses the movement of your muscles to push the lymphatic fluid towards lymph nodes where the toxins are cleansed. There are lymph nodes throughout the body; behind the knees, in the groin, armpits, behind the ears etc. The toxins eventually flow into your blood stream and are cleansed by your kidneys and excreted out of the body in urine.

So, how is this useful? Well, after a run, instead of coming to an immediate stop, use the last 3-5 minutes to slow down from your run pace to a steady walking pace. This will act as your cool down and flush toxins out of your body.

A reduction in the toxins in your muscles, will help improve how your body feels post workout.

Blood Pooling:

Have you ever felt light-headed after a very intense run? This may be a 100m sprint or a 10km run. Your initial reaction is for your body to stop what it's doing, sit down and try to get some composure back.

However, this could potentially result in you feeling worse, rather than better. 

As you run, your heart rate increases to pump your legs full of oxygen rich blood. This allows your legs to keep moving, which in turn aids the movement of blood back to your heart (venous return). As you come to a stop, your heart rate rapidly decreases and you are no longer assisting venous return. This is called blood pooling.

Therefore, rather than come to an immediate stop after running, consider gently returning your heart rate to normal (60-80 bpm is the average for a healthy person) over a period of 3-5 minutes.

Static Stretching:

Flexibility is the foundation of exercise. If you cannot move, you cannot increase your endurance, strength or power. These 4 elements make up the pillars of exercise.

As you run your muscles are continuously contracting and expanding. As you lift your knee up, your quad is contracting, as your knee descends, it is expanding and lengthening. This motion results in changes being made to the muscles and over time an increase in endurance, strength and power occurs.

When you stop, the muscles are adapting to help you the next time you go running. As part of this process, you may feel you have less mobility after a run than you did before a run. To ensure that you maintain your functional range of movement, you should hold stretches for 15-30 seconds on each muscle group post run.

What should I expect from my first massage consultation?

The formalities - the masseuse will introduce themselves and ask you to complete medical history and personal details forms.

After you have completed the forms the masseuse will as you if you are happy for them to keep your data on file and if you hare happy to be assessed.

The masseuse will then ask you why you're visiting and start a physical assessment. This has 4 sections:

- posture - standing in your relaxed stand

- movement - identifying a specific joint(s) and any dysfunction that joint may have

- palpitation - asking you to sit or lie on the couch while the masseuse presses on the muscle

- functional movement - complete a functional movement that you would complete in your every day life

Once the assessment has been completed, the masseuse will write a treatment plan and outline what they plan to do. They will outline the treatment and any associated risks. This is your opportunity to ask questions and confirm you are happy with the treatment plan.

After the assessment the masseuse will ask you to either put on sports kit or remove articles of clothing which will inhibit the masseuse during the massage. The best kit to wear is a pair of shorts, t-shirt. For women, wearing a back opening bra will allow the most convenient massage. All jewellery should be removed and placed in your own bag for safe keeping. The masseuse will not take responsibility for any personal items.

What to expect from a massage

Massage is a really great way of efficiently stretching muscles, helping muscle fibres to slide against one another and increasing mobility. When receiving any massage - deep tissue, relaxing, invigorating (usually pre-sport), sports - the masseuse should ask you a number of key questions to understand your health and activity level over the past 6 months.

Some of the questions they may ask you to disclose are:

- what is your name, address, date of birth? <- this is so they can contact you in future, if you require any information about the treatment provided

- what is your profession/occupation? <- this can help out ascertain why certain areas of the body experience discomfort e.g. desk job tends to lead to protracted shoulders, tight chest muscles and weak back muscles

- have you been to see a doctor or medical professional within the past 6 months? <- this can sometimes indicate that there are contraindicated reasons why you cannot undergo a massage

- if you have visited a health professional, what was it for? <- again, this is in case there is a reason why you shouldn't have massage e.g. cancer, recent surgery, high blood pressure

- is there any reason you know of why you shouldn't have a massage? <- similar to the above, this is to check that there are no contraindicated reasons why you cannot undergo a massage

- do you have an allergies? <- this one is really important, as it can determine the oil/lotion the masseuse uses

- are you taking any medication? <- medication like blood thinners can indicate that your doctor is concerned of a blood clot and therefore have DVT or similar

- have you taken alcohol or drugs in the past 24 hours? <- if you have taken drugs or alcohol in the past 24 hours, you shouldn't have a massage. The massage will push toxins into your blood stream and could cause damage to your body.

- are there any specific areas of your body where you're experiencing discomfort? <- this will indicate where the masseuse should spend their time

How boxing can improve your fitness

Boxing gets you fit and increases strength and here's how:

1). Firstly, it's a really great way of releasing energy and enjoying exercise at the same time. I appreciate that not everyone is into lunges/squats/running/lifting weights, so it's a great alternative.

2). Depending on how you're looking to transform will depend on where in the fitness pyramid you target your training. To lose weight you'll want high reps, low power. To tone up you do low reps, high power. Throw a few powerful punches and you'll be working on hypertrophy. Throw multiple punches and you'll be working on endurance.

3). You'll find that after a few rounds of 10+ reps, you'll start to get short of breath. Add a few runs between sets and you'll increase the cardio aspect of your workout. Strengthening your heart and increasing blood flow to your muscles.

4). Want a core workout as well? As you're punching think about squeezing your core. That'll certainly have an impact on the pads. For a more intense workout, add in a few crunches, or leg raises between sets.

Boxing is great fun, helps with fitness and weight loss and makes you feel good about yourself.