This video is simple.
We're gonna show you some simple exercises to improve your running.
Some of these exercises so many of us get wrong.
Incremental changes and habits can improve your running or racing.
And for this, I have enlisted the help of my esteemed colleague Mao.
So let's get it going.
You ready?
Let's go, let's go!
Okay, exercise number one, I am happy to be here.
And we have Mo ready to demonstrate.
Mo, you ready?
Of course, yeah.
So, what we're going to do for exercise number one is called a dumbbell squat. A squat is an exercise we
use every day to get in and out of a chair to sit down in the chair and stand up.
You do a squat at home.
So, Mo what we're going to do with our squad is going to make sure we're looking forward, ok.
And Mo's got 2 10 kg dumbbells on the ground.
Mo would you like to pick up those dumbbells for me, brilliant.
So, what Mo did there when he picked up the dumbbells,
he actually looked down.
This key thing here is just to make sure
we're looking forward and that keeps our chest aligned and in the right position.
So, Mo this time when you bend your knees, take your hips back, I want you to make sure you keep looking
forward and that's the key at home, brilliant.
Nice and controlled Mo.
And Mo's gonna go for
10 repetitions here and we're trying to do 10 exercises in this video.
Every exercise should be 10 repetitions and hopefully take a minute.
Exercise number two, we still need our dumbbells.
We used 10 kg dumbbells with Mo
in our previous exercises, we're
gonna use just one of those 10 kg dumbbells.
So Mo if you could move one to the side, brilliant.
Okay, this exercise again is called a compound movement.
Just like our squat. Compound means that we work different muscles.
We work a combination of muscles
and in this movement we're gonna do something called a sumo squat.
The position is all about having your legs nice and wide.
So what I want you to do is get into a nice
wide stance, brilliant Mo. Before Mo gets started
I'm just gonna move the dumbbell for Mo so it's vertical.
Like so, so you want the dumbbell in this vertical position.
What Mo's going to do, again
keeping his face looking forward and his chest up, he's gonna come down, pick up that
dumbbell and come back to that top position.
Again we're doing 10 repetitions because you know what the video is about?
10 repetitions, 10 minutes, 10 exercises.
Look at Mo go, wow, look at that technique.
Slow down Mo.
So let's try and get our repetitions at the same speed on the way down as the way up.
So Mo, we are going to do an exercise we've done before in previous videos, but this
time we're gonna use our trusty friends, the dumbbells.
Mo, again is using the same dumbbells.
Those 10 kg dumbbells. At home, please use dumbbells that you feel are
appropriate for the exercises.
So you might need to use dumbbells that are
slightly lighter or slightly heavier, depending the exercise and that sometimes can be a little bit of experimentation, ok.
But mo was comfortable with these 10 kg dumbbells.
This exercise is called the Bulgarian split squats.
So Mo if you'd like to grab your dumbbells, brilliant, and Mo is now going to
be making his body position, putting his body position in
front of the chair and creating enough of a stance and a gap so that
he can go down to the ground and do that Bulgarian split squad.
So the split squat is a unilateral movement means that we're isolating one leg, that
front leg, that Mo is using his his left leg.
He's probably gonna be working a little bit more on that leg as he
comes down towards the
ground and drives back up.
Well done though, that's brilliant.
Another thing I would like Mo to do again is keep looking forward just to really create some
length in his torso.
Nice Mo. 10 repetitions, 10 exercises 10 minutes.
So, remember that, how we doing Mo? That's 10.
That's 10 brilliant.
10 on each leg yeah?
Should we switch?
That would be brilliant.
Beautiful, good.
And if you're having difficulty with this at home, make sure you take a break, do them in threes.
Do two repetitions, do four repetitions have a break and go again.
So Mo what we're gonna do is we're gonna need that chair.
So if you grab that chair and you're gonna turn that chair so you you've got the back of the chair. That's it. Perfect.
So the back of the chair is going to be facing towards Mo, Moo is gonna be standing
at the back of the chair. Mo is gonna need one dumbbell.
So if you want to grab a dumbbell Mo, brilliant, and we are going to do a single leg heel raise.
Yes, I know you've done heel raisers before.
Maybe you haven't, but make sure you're doing the heel raises with some really good quality.
I'm just gonna move this dumbbell.
So what I want you to do Mo
You're gonna have the weight again most using a 10 kg dumbbell here and
have the weight on the same side as
you're doing the exercise.
The heel raise.
So that was brilliant, Mo
started the hell raised by really slowly lifting
up. 1 or 2 tips I want to
give to you Mo It's
just make sure you lift this leg
completely off the ground.
Good and just take your time.
Less force through your hand.
And I saw obviously the chair was moving.
So just fingertips on the chair, brilliant and really rise
slowly Mo, slow down.
You may need to think about what type of
weight you use, Mo's using 10 kg.
You may need to use less, you may need to use more.
Mo has switched now over to the other side. No rest.
Just go straight into it onto your opposite side.
Good and really light touch on that chair Mo, brilliant.
Okay, just before we continue, what I want you to do is make sure you hit that like button and subscribe.
Also please do mention in the comments below which exercises have improved your running.
Which exercises you enjoy from this video or
you don't enjoy and any
exercises or things you like us to do.
Right now, we're gonna get back to the video. Peace.
Mo, we are going to do a plank, but this is no ordinary plank.
This is a bit of a spicy plank like, that
challenges your abdominal muscles and those thigh muscles.
Are you ready Mo?
Let me know if you've seen this one before Mo
It's a bit it's a bit one I keep in the locker.
So I want to get into a normal plank position Mo, so, a plank position.
We need to make sure we come onto our hands and as you can see most common to his
elbows, keeping his elbows and shoulders in line.
Okay, so we've got one variation which is very, very simple.
Okay, Mo you're gonna bend both your knees, both your knees and touch the ground, great.
And now bring both knees back up.
That is the first variation.
10 repetitions. 10 exercises. 10 minutes. Brilliant Mo.
So that was the first variation.
That's a double leg.
Now we can do a single leg.
So you're gonna do exactly the same exercise Mo,
just on one leg.
You choose which leg you use, but make sure your hips stay in that solid position.
His hip, his lower back are all staying really stable.
That was a plank with a knee touch.
And it's a great exercise to work your
thigh muscles, your abdominals.
First time Mo's done it, and I think he executed it perfectly. Well done.
Thank you very much coach.
Okay, so Mo, this exercise you're going to be doing a
plank, but it's actually elevated.
So your body will be in this elevated position with your elbows on that chair for me
and your feet away from you. Excellent.
How do you feel in that position?
Comfortable? Good stuff.
So, this is an elevated plank.
Okay, with what we can do to challenge Mo in this position, and if you
want to at home, you can add some
rotation into this exercise.
So Mo all you're going to do is from that position, you're going to take your right arm
away and just lift good.
And this is gonna add that rotation element and now rotate to the opposite side,
and it really will work that oblique and that stability
through your torso.
Okay, so one common error that I see is actually the person brings their hips up to
release some of the tension from their torso.
What I want you to make sure you do is you keep your hips in
line and when you lift your elbows away, I
want you to lift and not to lift as high.
So initially Mo is lifting a lot higher
than that, brilliant, and switch over to the other side.
So the key thing here is keeping control of your hips.
So it challenges that torso and your obliques.
Please do 10 in total.
So five on each side, because we're doing 10 exercises, 10 repetitions, in 10 minutes.
Well done Mo.
So Mo, what we're going to do is we're gonna do something called plyometric exercises.
Have you heard of them before?
I have. Brilliant, and Mo is perfect,
he's warmed up, he knows what's going to happen.
We're going to do three particular exercises when I program exercises and a lot of when a
lot of people program exercise, we start working with both legs.
So we're going to go back to our squat, but we're doing a squat jump.
Have you ever done this before?
I have. Brilliant, so, common things, common errors I see with a squat jump basically, people tend
to again, look down and not look forward.
That was one of our key tips on our first exercise.
Second thing that I really see people do when they try and do a squat jump is they stay on their forefoot.
So, no, I really want you to focus on allowing those heels to gently kiss the floor. Okay?
You don't want to complete. That's right, feather touch, we don't want to completely stay on our four
foot the whole time, because actually that would be really uncomfortable.
We might fall forward and lose our balance so Mo can you show me your first squat jump?
Brilliant. Good. That was perfect.
I'm gonna allow Mo to do 10 squat jumps.
Keep looking forward for me Mo.
Do not look down. Excellent.
So, this is our first plyometric exercise.
Excellent Mo.
So number two, we are now going from using both our legs to single legs.
You ready Mo?
So we're gonna do a similar exercise but we're going to
do it in a lunge or split squat.
Okay, so if you want to come into that lunge position. Perfect.
Okay, Mo, so you're gonna go down as far as you can and then switch over to your
other side, allow yourself to slowly ease into the exercise.
So moving through these exercises and gradually
pushing and getting higher with each repetition, does that make sense?
Makes perfect sense.
I hope that makes sense at home for you.
Please let me know in the comments below.
Next up, this is the third exercise in our series number 10 of 10 exercises, 10 repetitions.
Really, really simple exercises called the Heidens, not
many runners use or move in directions which are side to side, and
that's what we're going to do in this exercise.
Okay, so heiden is basically just
standing on one leg Mo and then what you're going to do is just gently move over to the other side.
And as you go through the exercise, as we said before,
we're going to try and move further and further and put more and more power through,
and Mo is gonna have that feather touch and
it's going to challenge your balance good, there we go.
And Mo's now increasing his speed, that's excellent technique Mo, good.
Keep looking forward, brilliant.
Can you take any larger steps for me Mo? Good.
There you go, brilliant. Good.
And stop there.
Okay, that's the end of the series of exercises.
It's 10 exercises, 10 repetitions in 10 minutes.
It's all about doing things that are bite sized to change your incremental
habits and really create a difference in your running.
We want to do these exercises to make sure we
implement some sort of strength
and that will help with our running economy, keep us getting stronger.
The key thing is you don't want to do these exercises and make your muscles really sore.
So you can't run for three or four days, you want to make sure this is bite size,
something you can do that, you can
enjoy and that keeps you going during your week.
Does that make sense? Makes sense.
How many times a week would you say someone like me, you should do this.
That's a really good question.
I think it all depends on your previous history of strength work.
So if you haven't done very much strength work in the last 3-6 months, you will need to maybe try
and implement this once a week, experiment and see how that makes you feel and see how
your body absorbs that over time, you may be able to implement it
twice a week, and if you have done strength work periodically in the last 3-6
months, maybe you do it twice a week.
If you're really experienced this 10 minute workout might be good enough for you to do three times a week.
But please do let us know in the comments below how you find this series, how you found those
exercises, what was challenging, what was good, what you liked, what you didn't like because me and
my esteemed colleague Mo, we'll have you back for more.