James Dunne via YouTube.com Hip Circles Running Warm-Up Drill

It’s fair to say that the vast majority of us spend far too long sitting down every day. Perhaps you’re desk bound all day at work, or drive for many hours each week on your commute.

We spend a long time sitting on our butts, and this doesn’t do our general health much good, let alone our running!

If you have the freedom to use a standing desk, or be more active throughout the day, then this will certainly help with you come to run in the evening. But, if like the rest of us it’s difficult to avoid the realities of a sedentary working life, there are still a few tricks you can keep up your sleeve.

Simple Running Warm-Up Drill

With simple exercises such as the ‘hip circles’ running warm-up drill featured in the video above, you can begin to mitigate the effect that sitting all day has on our body. This simple exercise promotes both active hip mobility (rather than static stretching) and glute activation.

It’s no secret that hip imbalances, potentially caused or reinforced by too much sitting, play a significant part in causing many of the overuse injuries runners suffer, such as proximal hamstring tendinopathy, piriformis syndrome and patellofemoral pain.

The good news; drills such as this are so simple, and have such a profound effect on your body when done frequently. After all, running is so much more fun when you’re consistently free of injury.