There are so many different running exercises and drills
that you could choose from to add to your weekly training plan.
Sometimes it's hard to know which to focus on to become
a stronger runner and keep you running injury free.
In this video, I'm going to cut through the confusion and give you five exercises,
which will hit all the important areas for us runners.
If you only did these exercises each week, you'd be a better runner for it.
To start out, we've got what I like to call a runner's arabesque.
This looks pretty straightforward, but believe me, it can be very challenging
as it will test your balance, core control function and hamstring strength.
This exercise takes so many boxes for runners
so you show from side on the stand on one leg,
starting flexed on this side,
squeezing my butt on the standing leg.
From here can reach back.
With this, like, keep my back straight
as I reach forward with the arms
looking to comes parallel here when come back up.
Squeeze my butt.
Draw the knee through
slow and controlled.
As I'm on my way down, I feel a standing leg
lengthening through my hamstrings, feel like a good hamstring stretch
as those muscles really work
to essentially control the forward movement of the torso.
The way to the torso going forward is about great hamstring conditioning.
Now it's important with this that slow
and controlled is the order of the day.
So don't rush it.
Focus on the balance of the movement and the control of the movement
and you feel how you're having to work hard around the hips
through those glutes to control the single leg stance.
Aim for three sets of 15 reps of the runner's arabesque on each leg
three times per week.
Our next exercise is a side plank.
You're probably familiar with a side plank already, but do you know
why it's so much better for us runners than a standard forearm plank?
The nature of how we all run
means the wear only of a weight bearing on one leg at a time.
This puts an asymmetrical load through your body with every stride.
Running might look like a simple back and forth movement,
but there are lots of lateral forces that your body needs to deal
with and control to keep your body moving forwards efficiently.
If we're not good at controlling these Side-to-side forces,
we begin to see things like a hip drop in your running technique,
which can contribute to issues like IT Band Syndrome and lower back pain,
strengthening muscles like your oblique abdominals, glute medius
and coach rather some more.
I mean, your lower back will help improve lateral stability as we run side planks.
A great way of achieving this.
The problem with a standard forearm plank
is that it trains your body symmetrically,
which isn't really representative of how the body works when you run.
Some key tips for side plank are to keep your elbow beneath
your shoulder to keep your shoulders stacked one on top of the other.
And the same goes for your hips.
This will help prevent you
from rolling your body forwards or backwards in the plank position.
Make sure you keep your core tight and your glutes engaged,
pressing your hips forwards.
The goal here should be to maintain a straight line from head to toe.
Aim for three 30 second holds on each side three times per week.
The next exercise on our list is a split squats.
This will come as no surprise to regular viewers of the channel.
You know, I love a split squats and it's for good reason.
When it comes to improving hip mobility, particularly in runner's
hip flexors, the essential nature of the hip flexor lengthening on the downward
phase of the real leg really helps to improve hip flexor mobility.
Given time in practice, you will see that James has his left foot forwards
and his right foot back in terms of how big a split we want.
It does come down to comfort to a point that you will see
when we take James through the exercise, when he gets to the bottom position.
He's right.
Hip is in a nice extended position.
As always, James.
He's going to get that core engage and I'm going to ask him to tip his trunk
forwards ever so slightly.
And then from here he's going to allow both of his knees to bend
as he slowly lowers himself to the ground before pushing back up,
thinking about really trying to drive that left foot into the ground.
Notice at the bottom position, James is on the toe of his right foot
and he's maintaining his left heel in contact with the ground all the time.
Now, whilst we said this primarily works, the thigh muscles
James's chances are feeling this to a point in his left cheek
because that will contribute to you pushing yourself back up.
Aim for three sets of 15 reps on each leg three times per week.
Next up, we've got a little more focused glute activation work.
There are a bunch of different glute bridge variations you could use,
but this single leg bridge does a great job of isolating your glutes.
Building strength into hip extension.
And of course, because it's an asymmetrical exercise, again,
it challenges your core more than a traditional bridge
lying on your back with your feet flat on the ground,
pull your heels in towards your butt.
This is important as we encourage you to use your glutes
rather than your hamstrings as we go into the bridging movement.
Pull one knee towards your chest, but only so far
that your thigh points up towards the sky before you lift your hips off the ground.
Drive your heel into the floor and feel those muscles engage.
From there,
keep on pushing through the foot
and lift your hips as high as comfortably possible,
stopping before you feel your lower back begin to take over.
Lower. Gently. And that's one rep.
Aim for three sets of 15 reps on each leg three times per week.
Finally, we've got a simple but really powerful exercise for your calves.
You don't need to be able to use a skipping rope for this as I know
that's often a bit of a coordination challenge for some of us.
So quick and light ankle hops will be just as effective.
But go with whichever version you do is minimize
contact time with the ground between each jump.
This will help you develop the stiffness and spring around your ankles
that we need for an efficient running technique.
Less is more when it comes to this kind of low level plyometric work.
And of course, if you have any recent or ongoing calf or Achilles
injuries, be sure to ask your physio whether you're ready for these.
But for healthy runners,
this is a great way of developing strength and spring in your ankles.
Aim for five sets of 20 seconds three
to five times per week, but never on tired legs.
If you want to see more running exercises, click the video on screen right now
to see what Eliud Kipchoge
arguably the best distance runner of all time, does to stay strong.