If you're after some leg strength exercises for runners uh to do at home then this is
the video for you and we'll go through just a few really great simple exercises you can do at home
as its strength exercises you do need a little bit of weight you don't need any of the fancy weights
that they have at the gym you can even just get a bag fill it full of like baked beans or
something you've got in the cupboard you're just wanting something to hold on to my name's claire
i'm a physiotherapist from physiotherapy health if you're interested in strength what
i'd really strongly recommend is checking that you have flexibility to begin with
um flexibility is the one of the building blocks and foundations and then strength goes
over that so i would strongly recommend checking um leg flexibility uh we do have a deep squat
challenge um which works on the deep squat uh it is eight weeks takes you through just a load
of different exercises to try out focusing on the different areas of the legs so i do
think it's a really good thing to do so sign up the details are in the description below
i'll go through the exercises and at the end i'll just go through just a suggestion of the number
of repetitions and the the weight suggested i have to say the weight being used is really
dependent on the person and so it's something to kind of figure out from a personal point of view
but i'll go through that at the end for this exercise you do need something to be able to
lean on it's going to work around the hips going into hip extension which pushes you forwards when
you are running so is a good one to do so get yourself um a chair or a bench or something just
to rest yourself on you're going to walk your legs forwards and you're going to get your
upper body resting on that support legs are about hip-width apart and then you are
lifting your hips up so you're trying to get everything nice and level now this is where
your weights come into it and get your weight chosen weight you're just going to place it over
over the hip and pelvis area and then all you're going to do is lower these hips down and then
think about squeezing those muscles behind the hips so those glutes squeeze them as you're
raising back up again so it's a simple motion layering down and using those muscles just to
raise the hips back down but you need the weight over the hips as we are working on that strength
this one is good for working in a standing functional position you'll need something
just to pop your foot on so i'll get you popping your left foot onto um the chair or bench whatever
you're doing walk the right foot forwards um so you're in a split squat position uh just check
your hips are facing forwards um and this is where you're going to hold on to your weight so you can
have weights in both hands um so put them in a bag or something um easy just to hold on to and then
you're going to bend that right knee you're going to lower the body down and then you're going to
raise yourself back up again so that's your basic movement um however as with many exercises there's
always different variations um you can have the body upright um as we've just been doing um
it will probably feel like you're working more front of the thigh maybe down towards the knee
um but general rule of thumb are making a lot of assumptions people are weak around the hip
and the pelvis area so if you lean the body forward so think about hinging at the hips
um gets all of your weight onto that right leg lowering yourself down and then trying to use
these hip muscles uh the glutes to raise yourself back up again so it just changes the bias
a little bit uh both are good like i say but um yeah generally go for the leaning forwards
holding on to your weight this exercise will be working on the cuff um on to a weight is good
that can get your strength um holding on for support when you first try is okay so if you were
doing we'll just do one leg at a time so if you're doing the left leg i'd actually get you holding on
for balance with the right hand and holding on to your weight with that left hand and then you're
going to do your heel raises so you're raising your heel up as high as you can do and then
lowering it back down again now ultimately this one is actually better off the edge of a step
because it just means that your heel can lower down even further and you can go through that
full range of movement with that calf muscle rather than if you do it on the ground um then
the ground's obviously obviously going to stop you so you're not going to get that full range
so yeah off the edge of a step is better holding on to a weight that helps you with your strength
and then you're going to raise and lower so nice and straightforward so those are your strength
exercises that are pretty good for runners with your repetitions and if you're working on strength
you want to do not that many repetitions so you want to do three lots of six to eight repetitions
we do actually have a video where i go into a little bit more detail about strengthening
exercises and how to figure out what repetitions to do weights and everything so check it out
now you want a weight and you actually want it to be fairly heavy um so a lot of people don't
want to be bulking up with these strength exercises but that doesn't actually happen
so i'd strongly recommend the heavier you can hold the the better the benefit
for you it's a personal preference really as to how heavy or light you want to go
um if you're not too sure try lighter weight do the three lots of um six to eight gauge it
within 24 48 hours if you don't really feel like you've had too much of a workout up the weight
so yeah it's kind of as fairly heavy as you can go and not that many repetitions strength exercises
you only really need to do two or three times a week you can link the strength exercises before
or after a run as well that can be pretty good before the run just gets everything warmed up
after the run just means that your body knows it has to keep on working even
though it's been fatigued so benefits of both so yeah just depends on your schedule
if you are interested in learning or doing more exercises like this we do have um a pilates
membership you can sign up to you get access to a whole load of different exercises from five
minutes short exercises to do um all the way up to a 45 minute class we do have running specific
running walking standing specific exercises where we do like to focus on the low back and the legs
in particular so sign up the details are in the description below and I'll see you soon!