Mobility Exercises for Runners Who Want to Improve Performance
It’s easy to see why strength training has been stealing all the glory in terms of exercises for runners that are not the running itself. After all, the stronger your body is, the more you’ll be able to push off, land and keep building your endurance. This means you’ll have trained your body to go faster and for longer. Still, there is more to it than just power.
Mobility exercises for runners focus on the range of motion of your various joints. They maintain and improve the quality of movement of the different parts of your body. This can help you to better your running form, to reduce the limitations of your movements, and to reduce your risk of aches and pains. In the world of running, getting better in these areas can be just as important as getting stronger as you aim to cross the finish line at a better time.
The 3 Exercises for Runners You Should Include in Your Regular Workouts
It’s important to do these types of exercises for runners as often as you run. If you run three times per week, do these three times per week. Five times? Same goes.
The following exercises for runners focus on mobility specific to your running. They target the muscles and joints you’re depending on to get moving and to do it fast.
1 – Ankle Pumps from a Tall Plank
Among exercises for runners, these should be available to all skill levels. They’re fantastic for promoting your best posture, warming up your trunk, keeping your spine straight and raising your chest – just as you should while you’re running. It also helps to warm up your shoulders, which is helpful to the arm swinging motion that helps you to gain momentum. To start off, rest your raised leg down between reps instead of keeping it raised the entire time. Build toward keeping it raised over time.
2 – Knee Extensions from Standing
These movements are a direct reflection of the way your hamstrings are used as you run. The hamstrings and our glutes help your hips to extend and bend properly, letting you move your legs forward to accelerate. The faster and more accurately you can complete those movements, the faster you can run.
3 – Glute Pulls
As the largest lower body muscles, your glutes play a massive role in your running performance. This helps to explain why glute pulls are important exercises for runners. This movement helps to get your glutes moving and active before you run, so they’ll be prepared for providing you all the power (and speed) you need from each stride.