mid-level
Movements for runners
Activations
Here’s the truth: running isn’t simple
A good “dynamic” mobilisation warm up increases the range of movement of the joints and will activate muscles – reducing your risk of injury and allowing you to run with better form. Warming up also raises the heart rate, breathing rate and core temperature, especially if you're doing a harder run or race.
Use the exercise selection below to guide your warm-up
Exercise #1: Dynamic pogo hops
Here’s what we want to see out of athletes when doing pogo jumps: minimal ground contact time, and minimal knee flexion (knees over the toes). Each jump is mainly with ankle movement instead of hips and knees. Never let your heel touch the ground. Stay on the ball of your foot to utilise your lower-leg elasticity.
Perform 2-3 sets of 5-10 reps each side
Exercise #2: drop to lateral lunge
The Drop to Lateral lunge is an excellent exercise to train the body how to absorb force during explosive movements. Never exceed your body's capacity to control movement in trying to drop to fast or aggressively. Take your time and slowly work up to full force drops.
Exercise #3: Switch posture
You can help to work on getting your feet to land more underneath your hips with exercises like this wall running drill. It will help to create new movement patterns and help teach your body what it feels like to have your feet hit the ground under your center of gravity.
Perform for 2-3 sets of 10 - 30 reps
Exercise #4: single-leg glute pogo hops
Strong, active glutes not only look great, but they also help prevent pain and injury while also helping you to lift more and run faster.
To set-up. Drop into a classic glute bridge position. Lift a leg to vertical. Hop, keeping the heel off the ground, while keeping the hips as high as possible NEVER letting them drop.
The single-leg bridge trains hip extension and strengthens your glute max, which is an important muscle for generating power while running and on the bike. The Pogo-hop variation does the same, while building tolerance to explosive movement through the kinetic chain.
Perform for 2-3 sets of 5 - 20 reps.
Exercise #5: double boom step
We call these boom steps because I want to hear the foot punch the ground. The second boom comes if we want to do two contacts to the ground. I stole it from Frans Bosch’s Running DVD (I stole a lot from that DVD). Lift your swing leg and arms to a perfect position (90 degrees).
Quickly step down with the swing leg, scissoring your legs. The swing leg hits the ground and punches back up to the starting position.
In his book, Melén shows the positions of where knees pass each other in a variety of sprinters. The faster the athlete, the further away from the ground the knees pass.
Perform 1-2 sets of 10 - 20 reps each side