The Only 3 Exercises You NEED to Run Faster

what if as a runner there were only three exercises you could ever do again to help you run strong and run injury free I thought that was a really interesting idea interesting question and something we could take a closer look at right now so let's get into it okay so of course there are hundreds of different exercises if not thousands of different exercises you could be doing and different weak links that we each have as runners which lead to different types of injury history that makes sense that's what we see amongst runners but we also see a lot of common patterns and I thought to answer this we could break down using those patterns into three different areas and pick three exercises to look at those areas so it's begin with we've got general strength so we know we need to build strength for our quads through our hamstrings through our glutes through our calves in particular we've then got single leg balance and stability so we need to do something to address the fact that we're always landing and loading on one foot we need to be able to stabilize and control we also then need to work on calf conditioning and ankle stiffness and there were so many injuries plantar fasciitis Achilles tendinopathy shin splints calf strains just to name a few which come from poor conditioning amongst other things of the calf and lower leg so we'll pick something to address that too let's start out with general strengthening and I really like a split squat now call it split squat on a static lunge whatever you want to call it but in this position we need to firstly think about position of the pelvis so we're not just gonna arch your back and shift forward into a lunge here instead I want to draw your belly button in squeeze your butt and from here how it's come down on one plane of movement so straight down from the hips and from the bottom here you're gonna push through your heel and come back up to the top as you come down into the movements you'll feel a stretch down at the top of the front of the rear thigh through those pods and hip flexors especially if you're tight through there and as you start working through three sets of 15 on each side you'll feel that your quads and glutes in particular will be working hard in the front leg with this it's important that we control position of the knee of the front leg so as you come down into the movement make sure the knee is pointing forwards over the second toe rather than drifting in or flaring out if you need to hold on to something do this beside a wall that's absolutely fine and if you want to make it harder for yourself grab a couple of dumbbells a couple of dumbbells or any weight we'll add a bit of external resistance that you have to work hard to push against on the way back up that'll make your life a lot more challenging now when it comes to single leg control single leg stability we could do things like a single leg squat single leg deadlift but I really like the challenge that comes from our runners arabesque so let me show you from sidon in a stand on one leg starting hip flexed on this side squeezing my butt on the standing leg from here gonna reach back with this leg keep my back straight as I reach forward with the arms looking to come to parallel here then come back up squeeze my butt drive the knee through slow and controlled as I'm on my way down I feel in the standing leg the lengthening through my hamstrings I feel like a good hamstring stretch as those muscles really work to each centrically control the forward movement of the torso the weight of the torso coming forwards above great hamstring conditioning now it's important with this that's 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'll feel how you're having to work hard around the hips through those glutes to control the single leg stance now it may be that you can't do three sets of fifteen right from the off break that down do five five five with a break in between focusing good form every time slow and controlled over time those fives will become 8 will become 12 will become 15 it's all about practice the third exercise I wanted to choose was all about calves and ankles building a bit of conditioning and a bit of stiffness into that whole region and for me the best way very simply to do that is with some light plyometric works and work using our skipping rope so jumping rope now little and often is the best with this so five sets of twenty seconds on a four or five times per week basis is plenty with this and it's all about quality so with this we're looking to keep the bounce coming through the ankles and everything else stays fairly rigid so engage your core keep your feet together your knees together and focus on control now from here we are simply working for 20 seconds just feeling the bounce coming from the ankles now with that it doesn't matter whether you're a forefoot striking runner or heel striking runner mid-foot striking runner anything in between ankle stiffness is actually a benefit for all runners and if you want to find out how to improve your foot strike in general and improve your running form from ground upwards check out the video right over here so it will help you do exactly that now if you're new here don't forget to subscribe for more videos to help you run strong run injury free and I'll see you very soon in the next video bye now

Channel: James Dunne

Views: 1,225,838

Keywords: strength training for runners, running injury prevention, exercises for runners, split squat, runners arabesque, skipping for runners, jump rope for runners, best strength exercises for runners, James Dunne, kinetic revolution, Kineticrev, marathon training, strength exercises for runners, half marathon training, cross training for runners, injury prevention for runners, physical therapy, bodyweight exercises

Id: wH1qSqXAm_Y

Length: 5min 50sec (350 seconds)

Published: Wed Jun 24 2020