Welcome to this video which is going through some exercises that you can try out as a beginner runner.
So, if you're not sure what exercises would be good to do that will help your running
then, check out these exercises as I think they start to target some of the key areas.
At the end of the video I'll talk a little bit about progressing these exercises just so that you know
really where you're wanting to end up with the exercises.
My name's Claire. I'm a Physiotherapist from PhysioFit Health.
If you are interested in your leg flexibility and some improving the
leg flexibility can actually help improve the efficiency of actually making your muscles
work which can then have a good knock-on consequence to your running, it just makes
things just feel a little bit easier and freer. Sign up to our deep squat challenge. It's an
8 - week challenge and each week you go through different exercises
and yeah, just focuses on that leg flexibility.
So, you want to target your calves as a runner because that helps
you really kind of push off and give you some of that forwards momentum. Now, you need to do this
off the edge of a step so, get the toes on the step and your heel is off the edge of the step.
I'm holding on to something for support. Knees are straight and you're going to raise yourself all
the way up onto your tiptoes. Keep those knees straight and you're going to lower your heels
as low as you feel they'll be able to go. You might even get a calf stretch and then you are going to
raise yourself all the way up onto those tiptoes again. And so, very slow 3 second raise, 3
second lower and you're going to do your 3 x 10 repetitions. Now, remember with the
calves you also need to repeat with those knees bent. So, bend the knees and then the movement's the
same. You're raising up onto your tiptoes and then lowering your heels just as far as I'll go but you
need to keep the knee bent throughout the whole thing. And again, you are doing your 3 x 10 repetitions.
The second exercise I'd suggest to target is getting these muscles at the side of the
hips working. Now, these are part of the glutes muscles and they give you stability for when
you're upright which you need just that you don't kind of waste a lot of energy just trying
to stabilize the pelvis. So, that's what these muscles do just keep everything kind of nice and
secure. So, you're going to lay down on your side either get a rolled-up towel that you can place
your head on. Make sure that's comfortable or if you're happy, if your shoulders happy you can
bend your elbow and have your head resting in your hand. Bend your knees and I'll get you just
lifting your feet up just to check that they're roughly in line with the body. So, with this one
initially, you just don't want the feet too far forwards and you don't want the feet
too far back so, you're just trying to draw a line from your shoulder's hips to your feet.
So, that's the setup and then you are going to raise that top knee up towards the ceiling.
Now, what might happen is you lift that knee up and you actually start to find that your hips will
roll round so, potentially you might end up laying down flat on the floor which we don't want.
You want your hips pelvis to stay nice and straight and in front. So, lifting the knee
if you feel like you are moving your hips that you might kind of end up rotating them that's when
you stop and return that knee back down to the start position. So, this is your clam. It's a level
one clam and ultimately what you want to do after a few repetitions are start to feel the work around
the top of this hip that you're working. It might take a few repetitions but keep persevering just
to kind of double check really that you're getting that muscle activation so you can get that good foundation.
So, you can do your 3 x 10 and then you can go on to the other side.
So, this third exercise I'll suggest is to get the glutes working which is a big muscle at
the back of the hips. So, you for this one and you are going to lay down on your front and so
just make sure that your head and your arms are fairly comfortable so you don't have to be
thinking too much about them. Your focus for this exercise is the muscle behind the hip so, these
glutes and what I want you to do is to squeeze the glutes. So, squeeze the bottom together
and just see if you can activate those muscles. And you're going to hold it for 5 seconds.
So, you can squeeze it a 100% just as much as you can do and then you're slowly going to
ease off. After those 5 seconds you're going to squeeze 75% so, just a little bit less.
Hold it for 5 seconds and then you're going to ease off and then you're going to go for your 50%
activation so, just a little bit less. Hold it for 5 seconds, ease off and then you are going
to aim for 25% so, just a little bit of muscle activation. Hold it for 5 seconds and you're
going to ease off and then you're going to go back up so, then you're going to go to your 50%. Hold it for
5 seconds easing off go for your 75% and so just go for that little bit of an extra squeeze.
Easing off and then you're going to end up back at your 100%. So, these are your glutes ladders
that you're going to go through. Now, it might seem a really basic exercise and it is and that's what
you want to start with. It will give you a really good foundation for knowing what muscles feel like
when they're being activated. So, if you can do that you think it's fairly straightforward
the progression for this would be just to try the right one and then the left one. So, you're
doing both separately and it's just to try and get that dissociation between the left and the right.
So, those are some suggestions to try as exercises just to lay the foundation
for the legs. If you look at this triangle that we've put up on the screen, you'll see down
at the bottom you've got your range of movement flexibility and balance so, that's really the
foundation and the building blocks and what you're doing with these exercises is you're starting
to get some of that muscle activation and to start working on the strength and the endurance
of those muscles which can ultimately then help you with your running. So yeah, I can't stress the
importance really of all of the foundations and setting yourself up
and that will really help you go forwards into the future.
If you're interested in learning a little bit more and having a bit
more variety of exercises to try out, sign up to our Pilates membership. The details
are in the description below. It's really straightforward, you sign up, you have access to
all of the different classes that we've run. We do runner stroke walker specific exercise
classes which target the lower back and the legs so, we'll go through all of the really
great exercises that can help you with your running. So yeah, check it out. See you soon!