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- To get better at something, you need to practise.
The rate at which you improve is usually
directly related to the amount that you practise it.
This, however, is only true to
a certain extent when it comes to running.
If you increase your training too much in running,
you are susceptible to injury.
But there are other ways in which
you can aid your running development,
one of which is by including some
strength and conditioning exercises.
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I'm going to be covering five exercises
that will compliment your running training,
making you a more efficient and resilient runner,
and as a result, enable you to run further and faster.
And yes, I'm in a gym right now,
but the best part of these exercises,
you can do all of them in the comfort of your own home.
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The split squad, if you can find a mirror
in which you can do it in front of
so you can make sure you've got correct form.
So starting facing the mirror,
you're just gonna take a large step forwards into a lunge,
and then from here you're gonna drop your hips down,
bending both your knees until you've reached
a position where you've got a right angle
at your ankle and at your knee.
If you're not quite there then just
adjust the distance of your squat.
Once you're here, make sure your hips are level
by checking in the mirror.
Put your hands on your hips just to be sure.
And from here,
you're then going to extend both of your knees
and push your hips back up towards the ceiling.
And then repeat that by dropping back down
until you reach your 90 degree angle.
And then you're going to repeat that 10 times on each leg,
so make sure that you go and swap over.
But always reset, concentrate on very good form
and keeping those hips level.
And another key point with this one,
ensure that you push your weight or you think of
pushing your weight down through your front heel
as that will help engage the correct muscles.
You can progress this exercise in several ways.
The straightforward way would be to add more reps
or more sets to the numbers that you're doing,
or you can take it another step further
by adding a block to put underneath your back foot
as this will then make your front leg work that much harder.
And another option beyond that is to add dumbbells.
So you can put dumbbells in both of your hands
and increase the weight that way.
This is another one that's about activation
and control around the hip area.
And if you can do it, in front of the mirror as well.
Start off by standing on one leg.
Making sure you get your balance,
pop your hands on your hips so you can
make sure that your hips are completely level.
Once you're there,
you can take your hands away for added balance.
And from this position,
you're then going to tip your torso forwards
and your non-weight-bearing leg is going to go back.
So imagine that your other hip that you're standing on,
the leg you're standing on is acting like a seesaw.
So you pivot around that trying to keep your body straight.
So you go from here and you tip to this direction.
Your standing leg or your weight-bearing leg
have a slight bend in that knee
just to help with the control.
If you have tight hamstrings you'll find that
you don't have that much range,
but it's not about the range in this exercise.
It's about keeping your line from your shoulders
through to your knee to your ankle and through your hips.
It's completely as straight as you can,
and keeping control at the hips.
So once you get as far as you can to that limit point,
come back up to single leg standing.
Check in the mirror that you're level
before you drop down again.
And I want you to try and do eight repetitions
on each leg three times through.
But the key with this exercise is about
doing it well rather than quantity.
So if you do struggle and you can only do four well,
I'd rather you did that than trying to do eight badly.
And you can progress this by adding weight.
So if you do have access to a kettle bell or dumbbell,
you need that in your right hand
if you're standing on your left leg, or vice-versa.
And then holding it by your side
as you start to pivot forwards,
you're gonna drop your hand down towards the ground.
And this is just gonna add to
the control factor of this exercise.
But only get to this if you've already got
very good control without the weight.
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This one is gonna get your glutes firing
and they are the powerhouse muscle for running.
So you need to start by lying on your back
with your feet on the ground
and your knees bent, so in crook lying position.
And then before you even move,
I want you to think about squeezing your buttocks.
And once you've got those engaged,
lift your hips up towards the ceiling.
And I want you to try to reach a level
where you have a straight line
between your knees, your hips and your shoulders.
Hold that there,
and then lower gradually back down.
So all the time thinking about keeping very good control,
and imagine you had a (murmuring) or something on your hips
and it's going to stay level.
It's not gonna tip from one side to the other.
And then repeat that 12 times,
the whole time squeezing your glutes.
And once you've done that 12 reps, have a rest,
and try and do the whole thing through, three times over.
If you find this really easy,
there are quite a few progressions.
The first one, if you have access to a weight,
you could add a big weight plate
that you'd have on the end of a bench press
and hold that across your stomach.
So it just adds extra weight,
and it's gonna make your glutes work harder.
But even more advanced progression,
but actually one that doesn't need
any equipment is moving to single leg.
Now, this requires a lot of control.
You need to be very careful you do it properly.
So get into your initial crook lying position
and then you're going to take one foot off the ground
and you're going to do it, as imagined, with just one leg.
But this is really tricky to control your hips
and you really need to make sure
that you keep them level the whole way
through the movement, trying to get full range,
and repeat that as you would with your two legs.
A strong core is vital for running,
and this exercise is gonna affect all of those
key muscles around your torso.
So you need to start by lying on your side.
If you can do it facing a wall
so you've got a good perspective
when you go into the exercise
to make sure you're parallel to that,
and you're gonna have your forearm
on the ground just in front of you
and your legs are outstretched.
And from here, your shoulders will already be raised,
and then you're going to imagine you're pivoting
from your feet, so lift your hips towards the ceiling
until there's a straight line going from your ankles
through your hips to your top shoulder.
You want to make sure that there's no dip
or also that your hips aren't coming too high.
So again, do it front of a mirror if you can.
And the same goes with keeping your body parallel.
You don't want to angle it too much.
Once you've got the perfect position,
I want you to hold that for 30 seconds.
If you do find it too difficult,
you can do a revised version when you actually start
with your knees bent, so you're just pivoting
from your knees instead of your ankle.
You're making the lever shorter,
and therefore, a bit easier.
And then obviously make sure you do
30 seconds on the other side.
Have a rest,
and try and do both sides four times through.
There are so many different progressions that you can do
when it comes to plank or side plank.
But we're gonna do two simple ones to start with,
so first of all, doing 30 seconds on one side.
And then instead of having a rest in-between,
go into front plank,
and then straight onto the other side.
And keep this continuous for as long as you can
manage to control good form.
And the other option, which is something I find
really difficult still is (murmuring) inside plank
and then from there, lifting your top leg and your top arm,
and then dropping them back down
and lifting again,
all the time trying to maintain that very good control.
And again, repeat on the other side.
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The calf muscles and Achilles tendons
take a lot of load when running,
so making sure they're strong is essential.
For this exercise you just need to find a step
and then something to hold onto.
So just standing on the balls of your feet
on the edge of the step, lightly holding on to something.
I want you just to drop your heels down
towards the ground to as far as is comfortable.
And then from there,
you're purely gonna raise up onto your tiptoes
and then back down again to complete one rep.
And the aim is to do 12 of these, have a rest,
and repeat it four times through.
Now, there's quite a few ways to progress this.
To start with, you can actually slow down
the speed that you lower,
because then eccentric loading will help make
your calves work even harder.
Or you can progress this,
like lots of the other exercises, to single leg.
And again, make sure you increase this gradually.
These exercises are a great
starting point to aid your running.
And you should aim to include them
two to three times a week if you want
to see a significant improvement.
And if you are new to strength and conditioning exercises
and you have a go at these, let me know how you get on
in the comments section below.
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And if you want some more core exercises,
we've got five core exercise physio just here.
And if you want a more detailed
strength and conditioning programme,
we've done a workout just here.