Rolling out muscles before running?

LaraeTX

I know you aren't supposed to do static stretches on cold muscles, but can I use THE STICK to roll out my legs before a run? I always find legs to be really tight the day after a rest day, so I was looking for ways to loosen them up to make that run easier. Thanks in advance.

xsmilexforxmex

Probably best to use it after the run and do a longer warm up to loosen them. The stick is basically stretching them the way static stretches would. That being said - you can stretch before but it increases your risk of injury and muscle strain and even slow down your run.

rrowdiness

Try incorporating some yoga style stretches every now and then, I do the 25 minute one below on my off days, and am much looser on my run days.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=of2spyCtUkw - rest day (25 minutes)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zEbmezjb5_E - warm up (15 minutes)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MB0G-TMv3bg - cool down (10 minutes)

Phaedra2014

5 or 6 sun salutations (yoga) in quick succession tend to warm me up before I go for a jog. I do static stretches after I run. Then I foam roll too.

ATT949

I know you aren't supposed to do static stretches on cold muscles, but can I use THE STICK to roll out my legs before a run? I always find legs to be really tight the day after a rest day, so I was looking for ways to loosen them up to make that run easier. Thanks in advance.

Runners do not need to increase your range of motion by stretching their muscles. Sprinters have a very large range of motion in their legs and in their arms. In contrast long-distance runners execute thousands of repetitions of movement of their arms and legs in a fairly restricted range of motion.
If your muscles feel "tight", that could be the sensation that you're feeling after the muscle damage that we incur as a normal part of training. Perhaps you would benefit from a day of rest or, perhaps, do a recovery run instead of an easy run or a run at a higher tempo.
The key to this is to understand how your body reacts to the training stresses that you are imposing. If you are monitoring your resting heart rate, you might be able to see that your resting heart rate increases if you're not giving your body enough time to recover through adequate sleep, good nutrition, and through adequate recovery after strenuous training sessions.
There's no specific formula. It's a function of understanding how you respond to stress and how your body responds to recover.
You might want to post this in the long-distance runners forum where there is a significant number of people who have experience with this.

spectralmoon

Try incorporating some yoga style stretches every now and then, I do the 25 minute one below on my off days, and am much looser on my run days.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=of2spyCtUkw - rest day (25 minutes)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zEbmezjb5_E - warm up (15 minutes)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MB0G-TMv3bg - cool down (10 minutes)

Totally saving these.