Does this count as a stretch, Mum?

With all the Agility we’ve done over Summer, I’ve come to realise just how fit you really need to be to get the speed up with your pup. Especially if you’re doing the One Mind Dogs method, you’ll need some good stamina and speed out of obstacles for a quick run.

More importantly, there has been a lot of conversation around warm-ups for agility. Both for Humans and for Puppy dogs.

My husband is a  personal trainer & running specialist (convenient), so I asked him to put together a quick warm up routine for us humans to do before an agility run.

You only need 3-5 minutes, depending on your fitness, and it’s very much like a soccer player’s warm up. The essential thing is to do the kinds of movements you will do at speed on a run, but at a lower intensity.

Warm Up:

Jog forward slowly 20 steps

5 squats

Jog backwards 20 steps

Lunge forward 5 lunges

Sidestep 10 to the right, 10 to the left

Repeat 4-5 times

After 2 repeats, add more speed to the forward steps in the sequence.

Warm down:

Make sure you stretch after each run to relax the muscles you’ve been working hardest, like quads and calves.

Calf stretch

Quad stretch

Hamstring stretch

Glute stretch

OMD have promised some information on warm-ups for dogs. I’ll post those once they’re up.

In the meantime, you can see a good example here at Agility Nerd (also a great blog!).

Have fun and remember, a good session starts and ends with a great warm up and stretch!